Los Angeles Angels vs. Oakland Athletics Preview
Where: Oakland Coliseum, Oakland, CA
When: Tuesday, April 4, 2017, 7:05 PM ET
Line: Los Angeles Angels (-120) at Oakland Athletics (+110); total: 7.5 – view all MLB lines
TV Broadcast: FS-W
Betting on the Los Angeles Angels (0-1)
Despite a superb outing from reigning and two-time AL MVP Mike Trout, the Los Angeles Angels still came out with a 4-2 defeat courtesy of the Oakland Athletics on Opening Day.
Trout hit an early two-run homer in the third inning of Monday’s contest, which pretty much signaled that a victory for Los Angeles is at hand. However, the rest of the team’s batters didn’t follow their leader’s suit, as lead-off man Yunel Escobar was the only other hitter who ended up with a multi-hit night.
Perhaps the Halos can turn matters around this Tuesday with Matt Shoemaker (9-13, 3.88 ERA last season) penciled-in to start. The righty will make his first start in seven months since being struck in the head by a line-drive last season. He’ll be wearing additional protective headgear for the time being.
Shoemaker should fare well in his return to action against the A’s. He has a 4-2 record and a 3.48 ERA in 10 starts against his team’s division rivals from the Bay Area, and he’s even held Oakland to a team batting average of just .219.
It’s also worth noting that the Angels went 12-7 against the A’s last year, so Monday’s loss could be just them having a case of the season-opener jitters on the road.
Betting on the Oakland Athletics (1-0)
The Oakland Athletics must be glad that they sorted Khris Davis’ contract out during the offseason, as he was clearly the hero on Monday.
Davis, who had career-highs of 42 home runs and 102 RBIs last year, went 3-of-4 and hit a couple of dingers in the victory. He also became just the second player in franchise history to have a multi-homer game on Opening Day.
Davis wasn’t alone in the HR department (and we don’t mean human resources, of course), as catcher Stephen Vogt also went yard against the Angels. Vogt might be in for another solid performance this Tuesday, as he has two home runs and five RBIs in 23 career at-bats against LA’s Shoemaker.
Sean Manaea (7-9, 3.88 ERA in 2016) got the starting nod in the second of a four-game series with the Angels to start the new season. He’s seen very little action against Los Angeles’ lineup, but he’s got to watch out for Trout (3-of-4 with a homer and two walks) nonetheless. But still, Manaea’s rookie season appeared promising, and he should be inspired by Kendall Graveman’s outing in the opener. Graveman retired seven Angels batters and allowed just two runs in six innings of work.
Writer’s Prediction
Make that two-consecutive wins for the Oakland (+110), 3-2.
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