The Los Angeles Angels are on the road tonight in Major League Baseball action when they take on the Oakland Athletics. The game is scheduled for a 9:35 p.m. start time and it will be televised live on MLB.tv. Currently the odds for the game have the Athletics favored to pick up the win at home.
Sonny Gray starts tonight for the Athletics. He's one of the best kept secrets in baseball, pitching out on the West Coast but still finding a way to dominate games. Gray's 1.60 ERA is the best in the big leagues so far this season and if he throws at least six innings tonight, he'll have more than any other pitcher in the game to date.
Through 14 starts Gray has allowed just 17 earned runs while striking out 88. The youngster from Vanderbilt has actually pitched better in road starts this season, piling up five of his eight wins away from home. In just over 51 innings thrown in road games Gray has posted a 1.58 ERA, just a shade lower than his 1.62 at home in 44 innings.
Despite Gray being only 25, he has some history against the Angels, allowing a .188 average against them in 165 plate appearances. Mike Trout has homered twice against him.
The Angels will send Matt Shoemaker to the mound. He's 4-5 with a 4.85 ERA this season; all four of those victories have come on the road. Current Athletics have an average of .284 against him in 81 plate appearances. He's a youngster as well, at only 26; Marcus Semien and Stephen Vogt have both homered off of Shoemaker.
The righty has a record of just 2-2 his last four starts overall but has allowed just five earned runs in more than 24 innings pitched. Going up against Gray tonight won't be easy.
Free Pick: Oakland
Betting and Winning in the WNBA
According to pro handicapper Steve Fezzik, you don't even need to watch WNBA games to successfully bet the sport. He tells fellow handicapper Teddy Covers that the sportsbooks simply don't spend enough time setting good lines on the sport, so just following injury reports, like the one with top player Diana Taurasi of the Phoenix Mercury, will tell you what you need to know. Yes, the betting limits for WNBA are low, but the bright side to that is the wise guys leave WNBA alone, giving smaller stakes bettors more opportunities to succeed.
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