Athletics @ Red Sox Predictions 5/12/21: Take Boston -148

The Oakland As are in the news at the moment for off the field (and potentially out of the city) reasons but how will they fare tonight in Boston? Zach Rainey takes a look at the match-up...

The Boston Red Sox and the Oakland Athletics have both been interesting stories this season.

Both teams stumbled out of the gate but now are tied for the best record in the American League at 22-15.

Oakland picked up a 3-2 win at Fenway Park last night, but I expect Boston to even the series tonight.

Boston sends its ace to the mount in Eduardo Rodriguez, who is currently 5-0 with a 3.82 ERA. Last night was also a rare occurrence where Boston didn’t score a lot of runs.

According to TeamRankings, Boston is third in the MLB, averaging 5.14 runs per game. Oakland sits in the bottom third of the list, averaging a full run per game less with 4.14.

On top of that, Oakland starting pitcher James Kaprielian will be making his season debut with the club after not necessarily lighting it up in AAA Las Vegas. In his lone start in the minors this season, he allowed two runs on eight hits and five Ks over 4.2 innings.

When Kaprielian was with the major league club last season, he had two relief appearances and had a 7.36 ERA and allowed a .267 average against him.

That would explain why the total is set so high at 9.5 after the teams combined for just five runs last night in similar weather conditions to what tonight will bring.

When you think of the phrase “why can’t we have nice things?” you almost immediately think of the Athletics. Built with pretty much other teams castoffs, the A’s do a better job at doing more with less than possibly any team in the MLB with the exception of Tampa Bay. The edge I would give Tampa Bay is in their player development.

I’m a Jed Lowrie truther and have been since his days with Boston, but has bounced around to say the least. He’s always been a solid fielder and hitter, hitting .274 on the young seaso. After opting out of 2020, the 37-year old is in his third stint with Oakland after two separate stints with the Houston Astros and a short one with the Mets in 2019.

The gambles Oakland has taken haven’t paid off. Stephen Piscotty looked like a promising young player after his first two seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals, but saw his numbers dip in his third season before going to Oakland. He’s hitting only .252 since arriving in Oakland, and .211 this season.

Elvis Andrus has been worse. A career .274 hitter with Texas over 11 seasons, Andrus is hitting just .161 this season. There’s no signs it’s getting better either, as he hit just .194 in the abbreviated season last year. Don’t be surprised if you hear he’s DFA soon.

I’m staying away from the under, but I love the Red Sox at -148 at BetRivers. If you want to go the double result and think the Sox will dominate throughout, you can parlay that with the F5 at -210.