Inside the Chalk

The Boston Red Sox will look to even their 3-game series with the St. Louis Cardinals this afternoon at Fenway. Boston is 22-17 overall and 13-8 at home. St Louis is 14-25 overall and 8-12 on the road. Two southpaws are expected to oppose each other, with Chris Sale tapping the rubber for the Red Sox and Steven Matz for the Cardinals. The 7-time all star, Sale, gets better each time he takes the mound so disregard his 3-2 record and elevated 6.37 ERA. Matz has struggled, still winless at 0-4 with a 5.70 ERA. The Red Sox are 6-1 in their last 7 at Fenway and 4-0 in their last 4 games against a left-handed starter.
TODAY’S PICK: BOSTON RED SOX

The Baltimore Orioles and the Pittsburgh Pirates will open a 3-game set tonight at Camden Yards. Pittsburgh is in a major slump, losing 9 of their last 10. Tonight they are expected to turn to Johan Oviedo to get them back on track and he is not the answer. Oviedo is 2-3 with a 5.59 ERA and a 1.62 WHIP. Over his last 3 starts, he has surrendered 17 earned runs over 12-2/3 innings of work – not good. The Orioles have won 2 straight, taking 2 of 3 from the best team in baseball, the Tampa Bay Rays. Tonight they are expected to hand the ball to Kyle Bradish, who is 1-1 with a 5.95 ERA and a 1.73 WHIP. The O’s are 8-2 in their last 10 home games and 9-1 in their last 10 meetings with the Bucs at the Yard.
TONIGHT’S PICK: BALTIMORE ORIOLES

After getting swept by the New York Yankees by a combined score of 28-10, the Oakland Athletics return home tonight to open a 4-game series with the AL West leading 22-14 Texas Rangers. The 8-30 A’s have just 3 wins at the Coliseum and will be facing right-hander Nathan Eovaldi, who has been dialed in. Eovaldi is 4-2 with a 3.22 ERA and a 1.10 WHIP. In his last two starts, he pitched a complete game against the Yankees, blanking them 2-0, and then pitched 8 scoreless against the Angels in a 10-1 Texas win. Oakland has yet to announce a starter but whoever it is doesn’t matter. Texas is averaging 6.31 runs per game, which is the best in the majors, and Oakland’s combined ERA is a bloated 7.43.
TONIGHT’S PICK: TEXAS RANGERS

The Arizona Diamondbacks will go for a series win over the Miami Marlins in a matinée today at Chase Field. The Diamondbacks are 20-16 overall and 11-8 at home. Their expected starter is Merrill Kelly. He is 3-3 with a 2.75 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP. Kelly delivered in his last turn, holding the Washington Nationals to just one run and fanning 10 over 7 innings in a 3-1 Arizona win. The Marlins are 18-19 overall, 8-10 on the road, and are expected to counter with Edward Cabrera. He is 2-3 with a 4.78 ERA, a 1.66 WHIP, and is winless on the road. The Snakes have the edge in runs per game, run differential, batting average, hits, homers, and the list goes on.
TODAY’S PICK: ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS

The Tampa Bay Rays continue to roll. With last night’s 3-0 shutout over the Baltimore Orioles, the Rays improved to a league best 29-7. They also have as many shutouts as they do losses in the young season, 7. Tonight they will go for a series win and their 10th victory in 12 games when the Rays and Orioles play the second of their 3-game set at Camden Yards. Expected starters are Zach Eflin for Tampa and Grayson Rodriguez for Baltimore. Eflin has been dealing and Rodriguez has not. Rodriguez is 1-0 with a 5.46 ERA, a 1.54 WHIP, and was torched by the lowly Kansas City Royals in his last turn, surrendering 6 runs on 8 hits in just 3-2/3 innings. Eflin is perfect at 4-0 with a 2.25 ERA and a WHIP of only 0.96. The 22-13 Orioles have come back down to earth, losers of their last 3. The Rays have no problem scoring runs, averaging over 6 per game, and should get to Rodriguez tonight.
TONIGHT’S PICK: TAMPA BAY RAYS

The New York Yankees will go from playing the best team in baseball, the Tampa Bay Rays, to the worst when they open a 3-game set with the Oakland Athletics tonight at the Stadium. New York is one game above .500, at 18-17, and 11-8 in the Bronx. The Athletics have just 8 wins with 27 losses and are 5-12 on the road. Southpaw Nasty Nestor Cortes, Jr. is the expected starter for the Yanks. He is 3-2 with a 4.91 ERA, a 1.18 WHIP, and will look to bounce back after getting lit up in his last turn by the Texas Rangers. The ex-Yankee, lefty JP Sears, is expected to go for Oakland. He is winless at 0-2 with a 5.06 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP. New York is 4-0 in Cortes’ last 4 home starts against a team with a losing record and 5-0 against Oakland in their last 5 meetings in the Bronx. If New York can’t take care of business against Oakland at home, changes need to be made.
TONIGHT’S PICK: NEW YORK YANKEES

The New York Mets and the Colorado Rockies will play the rubber game of their 3-game set this afternoon at Citi Field. New York has the talent to be a legitimate World Series contender but have not been playing like one. They are 17-17 overall, 7-7 at home, and have had trouble scoring runs. That will change. Colorado has been playing well but despite yesterday’s 5-2 victory they are still just 6-12 on the road. Today’s expected starters are lefty Joey Lucchesi (1-0, 3.89 ERA, 1.10 WHIP) for New York and Ryan Feltner (2-2, 4.45 ERA, 1.45 WHIP) for Colorado. The Mets are 9-3 in the last 12 meetings overall with the Rockies, 7-2 in the last 9 against Colorado in Queens, and they have the best skipper in the business, Buck Showalter. He will have his boys ready today.
TODAY’S PICK: NEW YORK METS