After getting swept at home by the Athletics early last month, the Mariners close out this three-game series with their ace on the bump. Felix Hernandez has beaten Oakland 22 times during his career, the most wins against any opponent.
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ODDS ANALYSIS
Oakland’s sweep in Seattle last month started a road winning streak that went for its first seven games, but the road form has since fallen off. The Mariners have been more than capable away from home and have had similar success in Oakland for nearly two years.
The Athletics won three at Seattle from Apr. 8-10 while holding the Mariners to four runs and a .155 average. The A’s were in the black 3.96 units in that series and all three games cashed the under.
Seattle, however, has won four straight series in Oakland and is 12-5 there since dropping two of three from April 3-5, 2014. The M’s have yet to lose a road series, going 8-4 while taking two of three in four different sets. They also won two of three in both their recent home series, but were denied a sweep over the defending champion Royals with Sunday’s 4-1 setback.
PROBABLE PITCHERS
Felix Hernandez (2-2, 1.38 ERA) blanked the Royals for 7.2 innings on Friday to earn his second win of the year. He had no margin for error in a game in which he received just a single run of support. He’s now allowed one earned run or fewer in four of his five starts, dropping his ERA to 1.38. Hernandez has prevented opponents from scoring by holding them to a .032 average with runners in scoring position.
King Felix ranks among the leaders in ERA and blanked the A’s for seven innings on three hits with 10 strikeouts in a do-decision on Apr. 10. He is 11-3 with a 2.76 ERA in 21 career starts at O.co Coliseum.
Oakland rookie Sean Manaea (0-0, 7.20 ERA) took a no-decision in his big league debut Friday after allowing four runs on four hits and four walks with three strikeouts against the Astros. The outing wasn’t all bad considering it was just one run through five innings. He hit a batter, walked one and gave up an RBI single before being lifted. Both inherited runners scored off Sean Doolittle.
Acquired from the Royals in the Ben Zobrist deal last year, Manaea had a 1.50 ERA and 21 strikeouts in 18 innings at Triple-A Nashville before the call up. He’s likely to get a few more looks with Chris Bassitt on the disabled list.
LIVE BETTING
With sluggers Robinson Cano and Nelson Cruz on the roster, there weren’t many outside of Seth Smith’s immediate family who thought he would be the catalyst for the Mariners offense. Two swings in a 24-hour span pretty much summed up the offensive side of his first month. His solo homer in the sixth inning was the M’s only hit in a 1-0 victory over the Royals on Friday.
The next night, smith lined a fastball from Yordano Ventura over the right-center wall for his fourth home run of the season, triggering a four-run first in what ended up a 6-0 Seattle victory. Through Sunday Smith had hit safely in 12 of his past 14 starts, batting .348 over that span with two doubles, three homers and eight RBIs, along with 11 runs scored.
QUICK PICK
The Athletics aren’t the most imposing offensive club in the majors and facing Hernandez hasn’t turned out well for them in the past. Seattle is playing good baseball with five straight series wins and looking to avenge a sweep by the A’s from early April.
This has been a weird matchup over the past few years with each team enjoying success in the others yard. And with the M’s tossing Hernandez, they have an even bigger edge. King Felix is 22-8 against Oakland in his career and 11-3 in 21 lifetime starts in Oakland. There aren’t many threats in the A’s lineup to scare Hernandez.
MLB Odds: Seattle 4, Oakland 2
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