Last Night’s American League Recap
There were five games last night in the American League plus one interleague matchup in Detroit.
Red Sox get their first win since the break
The Boston Red Sox put their historic five-game losing streak to bed with a 3-1 win over the Guardians. Boston avoided falling below 500 for the season with the win but remains three games back of the Mariners in the American League wild-card race.
The game was quite uneventful but was delayed 40 minutes by rain. The Red Sox will honour ‘Big Papi David Ortiz before tonight’s game after his Hall-of-Fame induction over the weekend.
Stubborn Orioles put down the Rays
Men left on base for the Rays and a strong outing from the O’s bullpen was the story of the game. The Rays left 10 men on base and the Orioles’ bullpen pitched 6 scoreless innings to hold down Tampa Bay. Baltimore is now an impressive 13-6 for the month of July.
Mariners get back in the win column against the Rangers
The Seattle Mariners rebounded from their weekend sweep by the Astros by picking up their first win since the break win a close 4-3 win over the Rangers. Their 14-game streak before the break still has them in a good position despite the series against Houston. Seattle still holds a three-game lead in the American League wild-card race over Cleveland and Boston.
Grienke moves up the strikeout list
Zack Grienke pitched 5 shutout innings as the Royals trounced the lifeless Angles 7-0. The Royals got all of their runs after the 5th inning which prevented Grienke from picking up the well-dersevered win. Zack moved into the 20th spot on the career strikeout list with his strong outing.
Shohei Ohtani was the lone bright spot again for the Angels. He took a painful foul ball off the inside of his leg and looked in some serious discomfort. But he still managed to leg out a double in the same at-bat limping noticeably.
Tiger’s Bats come alive
The Tiger’s bats finally come to life putting 12 runs in a rare game against Padres. Miguel Cabrera hit his 506th career HR and Eric Haas had a grand slam for the Tigers in the 12-4 route. The HR by Haas was originally ruled a double but was overruled when the replay clearly showed the ball hitting above the yellow HR line.
Padres 2B Jake Cronenworth got loud cheers from the crowd at Comerica Park. Jake, a Detriot native and UM alumni, had his own cheering section for the road game.
A’s hold off Astros
The Athletics held off a comeback attempt by the Astros to win 7-5. The last-place A’s have looked better of late winning 4 of their last five giving fans hope there may be a path out of the American League cellar before the season’s end.
Today’s American League Best Bets
July’s Best Bets: 31-18, +10.67 Units
I split a couple of games yesterday. The Red Sox finally stopped the hemorrhaging hanging for a 3-1 win over the Guardians. But the Angels did not disappoint as they continued their epic slid down the standing with a weak 7-0 effort in KC.
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American League: Red Sox (Winckowski) [-140] Vs Guardians (Shaw) $
The Boston Red Sox will honour David Ortiz tonight after his Hall-of-Fame induction on the weekend. I am always mindful of these types of ceremonies because they often bring with them strong emotions from the fans and even the players. It is likely to be a highly moving induction as Big Papi was one of the most beloved players in the history of the franchise. He is considered by many to be the best DH in the history of the sport. The sell-out crowd tonight should be a factor.
I look for the Red Sox to ride this emotion and get to an early lead. Picking Boston considering their recent performance goes against my better judgment, but I still think this is the right play. The Guardians will go with a bullpen start tonight beginning with Bryan Shaw. The Red Sox could find themself deep into the Guardian bullpen before the end of the evening.
American League: Royals (Zerpa) [-119] Vs Angels (Suarez) $
We don’t know much about Angel Zerpa, Royal’s 22-year-old rookie from Venezuela yet. But he did make a decent outing in his first career start against Toronto going five innings and allowing just one run. I doubt he could pitch much worse than his fellow countryman, Jose Saurez, has in his past few outings.
Suarez has offered up 4 HRs and 12 ERs in his last 3 starts over just 12 innings. That combined with dreadfully bad run production from the Angels recently, the Angels have to be played against regardless of their opponent. I’ll take a runner on the young arm of Zerpa to get a strong outing against the weak-hitting Angels.
Mike Trout remains out for the Angels. Shohei Ohtani is listed as questionable for this matchup, but I do expect him to play unless his bruised leg jeopardizes his next pitching start.
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