AL West rivals are set to begin a four-game series on Monday night when the Oakland Athletics visit the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field. Oakland was swept aside by the Houston Astros including a 6-3 defeat on Sunday as a massive +242 to underdog, falling to 41-74 as a miserable season continues. Texas has also struggled at 51-63, but is coming off a nice series win over the Seattle Mariners capped by a 5-3 triumph in Sunday's rubber game to cash in at +110 odds.
The Rangers hold an 8-5 advantage in the 2022 season series thus far. Oakland hasn't lost a season series to the Rangers since back in 2016.
Oakland had been surprisingly competitive against first place Houston leading into this weekend, but was outscored 21-8 in a sweep and now has the worst record in the AL. The Athletics were blanked until the eighth inning on Sunday until Nick Allen went deep, and RBI singles from Jonah Bride and Tony Kemp in the ninth weren't enough for a rally.
Cole Irvin took the loss, allowing five runs on eight hits and one walk while striking out one across six innings. Kemp was on base three times, while Steven Vogt doubled, walked and scored a run.
“Disappointing not to come out with a win,” manager Mark Kotsay said to MLB.com about the sweep. “We had an opportunity Friday night with a lead. [Saturday], we weren’t in that game at all. Today, we fought until the last out.”
The Athletics are down a massive amount on the money l ine with their poor overall record while going 54-61 on the run line. Overs are 48-60-7 for Oakland, with three of their last four games going over the betting total.
It's been a horrendous year at the plate for the Athletics, who are second-worst in the Majors at 3.37 runs per game on a .621 team OPS, also second from the bottom of the leaderboard. Oakland pitching only grades out slightly better, posting a 4.31 collective ERA including a mark of 4.15 out of the bullpen.
Sean Murphy has been one of the league's best catchers at 3.2 WAR, posting a .746 OPS with 13 homers and 48 driven in. Ramon Laureano is also enjoying a productive campaign with a .697 OPS, 12 homers, 10 stelas and 44 runs scored in 83 games.
James Kaprielian will make his 19th start of the year, having gone 3-6 with a 4.38 ERA across 90.1 innings thus far. The 28-year-old took the loss against the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday, allowing f our runs (three earned) on six hits and three walks over five innings, striking out six.
Every position player is healthy for Oakland, but the rotation is down Paul Blackburn (finger inflammation), Brent Honeywell Jr. (stress reaction in elbow) and Daulton Jeffries (thoracic outlet syndrome). Reliever Deolis Garcia is recovering from Tommy John surgery.