Hoping to stop their four-game slide, the Oakland Athletics continue their series with the Chicago White Sox in the final game on Wednesday’s baseball betting card. Let’s check the MLB odds.
Wednesday, September 08, 2021 – 09:40 PM EDT at Oakland Coliseum
Chicago pounded out 15 hits in the series opener on Tuesday, three doubles sprinkled among a dozen singles, to post a 6-3 winning MLB score. White Sox closer Liam Hendricks recorded his third save in as many tries against his former Oakland teammates, and Chicago had its fourth win in five matchups with the A’s this season. The final also marked the third time in 2021 that the two clubs pushed a 9-run total.
Most shops are carrying an 8½-run total for Wednesday’s contest, and taxing the ‘over’ a little extra. The initial mound duel finds Dallas Keuchel (8-8, 5.22) on the bump for Chicago opposite Oakland’s Frankie Montas (11-9, 3.68), and BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review) is selling the A’s as -160 chalk.
Tuesday’s triumph increased Chicago’s lead in the AL Central to 11 games over the Cleveland Indians and trimmed the magic number for the White Sox to 15 with 24 games remaining. They’ll head home from Oakland after Thursday’s matinee to host the Boston Red Sox and LA Angels in successive series, and are hopeful to have Lucas Giolito and Tim Anderson back from their hamstring injuries by the time they head out on their final road trip of 2021.
Keuchel’s last win came a little more than three weeks ago in Chicago against the A’s. He went five frames and allowed two runs, one of those a Matt Chapman homer, in a 5-2 final that closed with the White Sox small home underdogs at online betting sites. His only other start against Oakland since coming to Chicago was Game 2 of last year’s AL Wild Card series, Keuchel taking the loss after allowing five runs (three earned).
Since beating the A’s in that August 16th contest, Keuchel has worked a combined nine innings over three starts and allowed 16 earned runs. Opposing hitters batted a robust .469 against Keuchel in those games, another five reaching base via free passes. Chapman has been the toughest out for Keuchel in Oakland’s lineup, the third baseman hitting .412 (7-17) with 3 HR.
There’s never a good time to fall into a funk, but Oakland sure has picked a bad time to take a nosedive. This is really an extension of a slump that started in mid-August, with the A’s 6-15 since visiting the White Sox in Chicago. The good news is they still have two series each against the clubs ahead of them in the AL West, Houston, and Seattle.
Montas took the loss in that August 16th matchup against Keuchel and the White Sox, the right-hander allowing three runs in his five innings. All eight hits Montas allowed were singles, and opponents are slugging just .385 against him on the season. He earned the win over Chicago in the decisive Game 3 of last year’s AL Wild Card series, tossing two innings from the bullpen as Oakland’s third hurler among eight in that matchup.
The loss in Chicago a few weeks back was followed by a pair of solid outings for Montas, each lasting seven innings without a run allowed. It was a bit more of a struggle last Thursday in Detroit where Montas allowed three runs before being lifted two outs into the seventh.
The Tigers stroked two home runs to end a string of 6-straight homerless starts by Montas, but the A’s still won the contest 8-6 to cash as -200 chalk on the MLB betting odds.
Now in his 24th big league season, Ron Kulpa lines up to work the dish in this Hump Day collision. The Missouri native brings a 9-13-1 O/U/P into the contest, with road ‘dogs running 9-7 with Kulpa at the dish in 2021. For bettors looking to play tonight’s total, Kulpa is 5-3 in contests with an 8½-run target.
The last remnants of a sunny afternoon greet the start of the contest before a clear evening descends on the Oakland area. The game’s first pitch will be delivered with the thermometer in the low-70s, along with an 8-10 mph westerly breeze (out to right). I’ve simply got a complete lack of confidence in Keuchel and will shave some of the chalk off my free MLB pick with a run-line play on Oakland.
MLB Pick: A’s -1.5 (+117) at Heritage Sports (visit our Heritage Sports Review)
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.