Tale of Two Lefties – Oakland A’s at Tampa Bay Rays

Game Match-Up: 5/20 7:08 ET

Wednesday night means that there’s another fantastic slate of baseball betting action on deck for customers of BetOnline Sportsbook! After splitting the first two games of this four-game set, the Tampa Bay Rays (20-21, -$395) and Oakland Athletics (14-22, -$718) will clash at Tropicana Field once again tonight! After a tremendous game by both starting pitchers, Oakland used a SS Jason Bartlett error to lead to four unearned runs to give the A’s a 4-1 victory in 11 innings. Tonight, the oddsmakers have lined Tampa Bay as -175 favorites in this sports betting affair, while the ‘total’ chimes in at 10 over -115.

There’s no two ways around it. LHP Brett Anderson has been awful this season. Not only has the 21-year old rookie posted an 0-4 record with a 6.03 ERA, but the A’s are 0-6 in his starts this season, making him the third worst money pitcher in baseball (-$645). There really aren’t many stats for the lefty to feel good about either, as his K/9 is low (4.31), his walk rate is too high (11 in 31.1 innings pitched), he’s not lasting deep into games (only two outings longer than five innings), and opposing batters are hitting nearly .300 off of him. That’s bad news for a bullpen that has had two very long games in a row. If there’s any semblance of good news for Athletics bettors, it’s that they finally had a solid day of pitching after conceding 47 runs in their L/4 games.

LHP Scott Kazmir is finally starting to take a ton of heat for his poor pitching this year. He may lead the Rays with four wins on the season, but he certainly hasn’t pitched like the ace of the staff that manager Joe Maddon so desperately needs. After giving up seven runs in 3.1 innings of work against Cleveland last week, his ERA ballooned to 6.97. Though he left that game trailing 7-0, the Rays fought back and beat the Tribe 8-7 to bail out their southpaw. That started a stretch of four straight wins for the defending AL champs, a streak which was stopped last night. Though Maddon has already said that there won’t be any hasty moves with his rotation in the weeks to come, he can’t ignore the fact that Kazmir has allowed at least six runs in four of his L/7 starts, and has to start considering other options if he struggles again tonight. The call to AAA Durham for LHP David Price could come at any minute.

Kazmir needs this game and needs it badly. He’s really lost total command of the strike zone and needs to get it back quickly. The number is a tough one to lay on a pitcher that’s been far luckier than he has been good this year, but the Rays should rebound. If there’s any consolation, it’s that RP Lance Cormier has been fantastic of late. He’s the designated long man for Kazmir’s starts, and he’s thrown 8.2 straight scoreless frames.

Rose’s Recommendation: 2* Tampa Bay Rays -175

(Rating Scale: 1* – 5*)