Texas Rangers (52-65) vs Oakland Athletics (43-75)
Thursday, August 18, 2022 at 2:05 pm
My selection is on Texas first five innings over Oakland at 2:05 pm et on Thursday.
The A's have taken the last two games in this series (we won with Oakland +1.5 on Tuesday and the 'over' last night) but I look for the Rangers to answer back, at least early on in Thursday's series-finale.
Zach Logue will get another turn in the rotation for the A's. He's struggled in his rookie campaign, posting a 5.33 FIP and 1.44 WHIP while giving up just north of 5.7 runs per nine innings. To make matters worse, he'll be facing a Rangers club that has feasted on left-handed starting pitching this season (averaging 5.1 runs per game compared to its season scoring average of 4.4 rpg) and will be seeing him for the second time after tagging him for seven hits and four earned runs including two home runs in just 2 1/3 innings back in late May. Note that Logue hasn't just struggled at the big league level this season as he also recorded a 6.29 ERA and 1.88 WHIP in 14 starts at AAA. He's in the A's rotation out of necessity only right now.
Texas will counter with Dane Dunning. While he hasn't had as good of a season as he did last year, he's still been serviceable, recording a 4.10 FIP and 1.38 WHIP while allowing 4.35 runs per nine innings. He gives up 1.1 fewer hits and 0.9 fewer home runs per nine innings in comparison with Logue this season. While Dunning didn't have his best stuff in his lone previous start against the A's this season, he still kept his team in the game, allowing just two earned runs over 4 2/3 innings in a start in Oakland back in late May.
With the two bullpens virtually a wash in terms of recent form and overall away/home numbers this season, we'll look to isolate A's starter Logue and back the Rangers in the first five innings only in this one. Take Texas first five innings (8*).