Baseball Betting: The Oakland Athletics are expected to send Scott Kazmir to the mound on Thursday as they visit Chris Sale and the Chicago White Sox. It should be a low scoring game as Kazmir comes into the game with a 3.42 ERA while Sale has an ERA of 2.09. Here is a look at the matchup and baseball picks.
Probable Pitching Matchup – Kazmir vs. Sale
Scott Kazmir is 14-7 on the season with a 3.42 ERA. He had struggled in a couple of starts as he allowed 13 runs but he was better last time out as he allowed three runs in 6.1 innings against the Astros. The question with Kazmir is whether he has simply become worn down. He has not pitched that well in his career against the White Sox with a 3-5 record and a 5.89 ERA.
Chris Sale is getting an extra day of rest for this start as his last start was on Friday. Sale has an 11-3 record this season with a 2.09 ERA. His overall numbers this season are excellent but he hasn’t been quite as good lately. He has only been going six innings or so of late. He allowed just one run and five hits last time out against Cleveland.
Game Notes
The A’s have pretty much owned this series of late, winning seven of the last 10 with two of the last three going over. They have not played a series in Chicago since last June when the teams split a four-game set with three of the four going under. The White Sox have not been able to shut down opposing teams this season as they are 27th in the league in ERA. And the Sox haven’t been anything special at home as they have a losing home record.
Baseball Picks
The pitching matchup looks to be a good one with Kazmir going against Sale but both pitchers have struggled a bit of late. We’ll avoid a side and simply take the Chicago White Sox to win this contest.