The Red Sox entered Tuesday with a 51-44 record.
That would be good enough for first place in the AL Central and third place in the AL West.
Unfortunately for Boston, it plays in the AL East, where seven games over .500 has it fighting to stay out of the cellar.Â
On Wednesday, the Red Sox visit Oakland with Brayan Bello (7-5, 3.14 ERA) on the mound.
Bello has been a pleasant surprise, allowing three earned runs or fewer in all 14 starts since his first outing on April 17.
Red Sox vs. Athletics prediction
(3:37 p.m. ET)
In Bello’s last six starts, he’s given up a total of just 10 runs over 40²/₃ innings with Boston going 5-1.
Oakland lefty Ken Waldichuk (2-6, 6.66 ERA) has pitched well of late but that’s been as a reliever.
He hasn’t pitched more than three innings since May 19.
In his 12 starts this season, Waldichuk has allowed four runs or more seven times, so his ERA as a starting pitcher is actually over 7.00.
The Red Sox have done well against lefties, batting .265 and averaging over five runs per nine innings heading into Tuesday.
Betting on Baseball?
Boston has won 10 games this season with Bello on the mound and covered the runline eight times.
Look for that trend to continue on Wednesday against the bottom-feeding A’s.Â
Our pick
Red Sox -1.5 runs (-125, PointsBet)
