Oakland Athletics vs. Cleveland Guardians June 10 Betting Preview

After taking the Oakland A’s (20-39) down in the opener on Thursday, the Cleveland Guardians (27-26) will host Game 2 of this four-game series on Friday. The game will be played at Progressive Field, with the first pitch scheduled for 7:10 p.m.

In the opener Thursday, Cleveland’s offense got off to a good start as they took down Oakland 8-4. Jose Ramirez and Josh Naylor both homered in the win, while Steven Kwan went three for four with a stolen base.

Christian Bethancourt went three for four with a home run, two runs batted in, and two runs scored in the defeat. Aside from him, the A’s only managed three other hits.

Athletics vs. Guardians June 10 Betting Odds

The Guardians are again the favorites playing on Friday. They are -166 to win while the A’s moneyline sits at +140. The runline features Oakland +1.5 (-166), and the over/under for total runs is 7.5.

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Pitching Matchup

The A’s will send righty Paul Blackburn to the mound for Game 2. Blackburn has had a nice season thus far, going 5-2 with a 2.62 ERA, and 1.06 WHIP, and has 44 strikeouts in 58.1 innings of work.

The Guardians will counter with righty Triston McKenzie. In 10 games, the 24-year-old McKenzie is 3-5 with a 3.10 ERA, 0.86 WHIP, and has 49 strikeouts in 58 innings of work. McKenzie was roughed up a bit in his last start against Baltimore, giving up five runs on three hits and three walks over seven innings.

A’s Flirting With Worst Overall Record

At 20-38, the Oakland A’s have the second-worst record in all of baseball. With only the Royals (18-37) separating them from the bottom, Oakland is hoping to improve on their 13-15 road record Friday.

After having lost eight in a row, Oakland is also hoping to get back in the win column for the first time in over a week.

While Frankie Montas gets a lot of notoriety as the A’s best pitcher and a likely trade chip, Paul Blackburn has been their most consistent pitcher to this point. Oakland will hope to get another solid outing out of the 28-year-old Friday.

Offensively, Seth Brown and Chad Pinder have had some success off of McKenzie. Brown only has one hit in four at bats, but the one hit was a home run. For Pinder, he is two for three off of the young righty.

Guardians Keep Chipping Away At AL Central

Having won seven of their last ten games, the Cleveland Guardians have quietly chipped away at the Minnesota Twins AL Central lead and now have it down to just 3.5 games. With three more games against the struggling Oakland A’s, the Guardians have a great chance to keep adding tallies into the win column.

Two of the Guardians’ best hitters flexed their muscles in the opener. After homering Thursday, Jose Ramirez is now hitting .284/.388/.619 with a team-leading 15 home runs, 55 runs batted in, 35 runs scored, and nine stolen bases.

Also flexing his muscles was first baseman Josh Naylor. Despite having just 127 at bats, Naylor is hitting .276/.336/.496 with seven home runs, 30 runs batted in, and 17 runs scored.

Against Blackburn, Jose Ramirez is two for seven in his career with two runs batted in, but the only other Guardian who has faced the righty is Myles Straw, who is hitless in his lone at bat against him.

Guardians Trying To Stay Hot

These two teams are complete opposites right now. Oakland is about as cold as they come while the Guardians have been playing some great ball lately.

While 12 runs were put on the board Thursday, Friday’s matchup may be a bit more of a pitcher’s duel. Both Blackburn and McKenzie have pitched well in the early going this season, so it is no surprise to see the over/under at 7.5.

Still, Cleveland has the far superior offense at this stage, and if they can scratch even a few runs across Friday, they should be in good shape to add another win.