4% F5 Texas Rangers & Oakland Athletics UNDER 4.5 (-140) — w/ Lorenzen & Sears — 

Despite the fact that these two teams have had a couple outings where they put up a decent amount of runs, including yesterday’s game, the SP’s have the edge in this one without question. When you look at what Sears has done against these Rangers, not many pitchers can say they are holding Texas to a .216 BA (19-88). Semien, Seager, Garcia and Taveras are a COMBINED 9-53 in their careers off of Sears. 

They are going to be forced to play two games today and that could effect the lineups that we see, and we could see some backups in here as well. While they are still quality batters, it may take a time or two through the lineup to figure out the opposing pitchers. 

Sears has allowed just 8 ERs in his L5 starts … but he has allowed just 1 ER in 4 combined starts if you overlook his misstep against the Orioles. Yet Lorenzen has been solid too! Lorenzen hasn’t put up quite the same numbers this season, but he does have an equally as impressive H2H record against Oakland. Lorenzen is 4-0 w/ 0.31 ERA in 5 career starts against the Athletics, including 4 straight scoreless starts (22 IP). He has allowed just 1 ER in 29 IP against Oakland in his career! 

Oakland has struggled to produce offensively against the DIV, but Texas has also struggled to put up quality offensive numbers against LHP. I am avoiding the BP’s here, and sticking in the F5.