Inside the Chalk

The Tampa Bay Rays own the best road record in the Majors, at 38-22, and have won 7 straight on the road. Tonight they will go for 8 when they visit Petco Park to open a 3-game set with the San Diego Padres. Joey Lucchesi is expected to get the nod for the Pads. The young lefty has been steady, at 7-6, with a 4.19 ERA, and a 1.18 WHIP, but the Padres are 0-5 in his last 5 starts. Tampa will go with relievers today and Diego Castillo is expected to start the game. Castillo is 2-6, with a 3.50 ERA, a 1.35 WHIP, and will probably go 1 or 2 innings. The Rays have been crushing lefties, going 4-1 in their last 5. Moreover, they are 5-1 in their last 6 interleague games and 7-0 in their last 7 meetings with the Friars. Tampa’s road dominance continues.
TONIGHT’S PICK: TAMPA BAY RAYS

The New York Yankees have lost two in a row to the Toronto Blue Jays but they bounce back today when the two clubs play a matinée at Rogers Centre. Masahiro Tanaka is expected on the hill for the Yanks and he has been a Blue Jay killer. Tanaka is 12-5 in his career against the Jays with an ERA of 2.88. Now that’s domination. Toronto is expected to counter with Trent Thornton and his numbers are not good, at 4-7 with a 5.55 ERA. In his career against the Yanks, Thornton has a bloated ERA of 9.72 and the boys from the Bronx are well aware of that. Take the Bombers.
TODAY’S PICK: NEW YORK YANKEES

Minnesota gets it done today at home against the Cleveland Indians. Jake Odorizzi is expected on the bump for the Twins. He is 12-5, with a 3.61 ERA, and a 1.19 WHIP. Minnesota is 8-2 in Odorizzi’s last 10 home starts and he is 1-0 this year against Cleveland, with an ERA of just 1.59. Good stuff. The Tribe is expected to counter with Adam Plutko. He is 4-2, but his ERA is high at 4.55, and on the road his ERA is 5.31. That is not good.
TODAY’S PICK: MINNESOTA TWINS

After losing 2 out of 3 to the Chicago Cubs, the Oakland Athletics will travel to the south side today to open a 3-game series with the Chicago White Sox in an early one at Guaranteed Rate Field. The A’s sit a half game back of Tampa for the second Wild Card spot in the AL, so they need to capitalize on teams like the White Sox and they know it. The red hot Mike Fiers is expected to tap the rubber for Oakland and he has been dominating. Fiers is 10-3, with a 3.46 ERA, and a 1.14 WHIP. The A’s are 9-2 in his last 11 starts and 4-1 in his last 5 turns on the road. Chicago is expected to turn to the lefty Ross Detwiler. The ex-Athletic is just 1-2 on the season, with an elevated ERA of 5.72, and a 1.48 WHIP. The White Sox are 0-4 in their last 4 home games and they are a dismal 7-20 in their last 27 against the AL West. The A’s have won 13 of the last 16 meetings with the White Sox and have been smacking southpaws on the road, going 9-3 in their last 12. Consider Oakland.
TODAY’S PICK: OAKLAND ATHLETICS

The two bottom feeders of the NL West, the San Diego Padres and the Colorado Rockies, will open a 4-game set tonight at Petco Park. The Rockies have won 6 of the 9 meetings this year and are expected to turn to Jon Gray to throw strikes. Gray is 1-0 over his last 3 turns, with a 3.38 ERA, a 1.44 WHIP, and when he gets the nod against San Diego, good things happen. Colorado is 5-1 in his last 6 starts against the Padres overall and they are 4-0 in Gray’s last 4 turns at Petco Park. The Padres have lost 10 of their last 12 home games and are expected to have Eric Lauer on the hill. Over his last 3 turns, he has been shaky. Lauer is 1-1, with a bloated ERA of 7.62, a 1.62 WHIP, and he has struggled this year against Colorado. Lauer has faced the Rockies twice this year and was lit up in both turns. Back in May, he was scorched for 8 runs on 8 hits and in June, he yielded 5 runs on 10 hits. In both cases, he failed to make it out of the third inning. Good value on the Rocks.
TONIGHT’S PICK: COLORADO ROCKIES

The New York Yankees are called the Bronx Bombers for a reason – they smack home runs. Tonight they will go for a series sweep of the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards. The Yanks have won 14 straight in Baltimore. They have launched 47 See Ya’s this year against the Orioles and 38 of those have been at Camden Yards. Lefty James Paxton is expected to get the nod for New York. Paxton has not lived up to the Yankees expectations. He is 6-6 with a 4.61 ERA, but if he is going to deliver, it should be tonight against an Oriole team that is just 17-40 at home. Baltimore is expected to counter with John Means. He has pitched well, with a record of 8-6 and a 3.12 ERA. Means will be making his first start since coming off of the IL with a bicep strain, and if he has any rust at all, New York will exploit it. The Yanks are hot. Ride them ’til they’re not.
TONIGHT’S PICK: NEW YORK YANKEES

The Boston Red Sox finally snapped their 8-game skid last night by beating the pathetic Kansas City Royals at Fenway, 7-5, in game 1 of a 3-game set. Tonight Andrew Cashner is expected to get the nod for Boston and Jacob Junis for Kansas City. Since Boston acquired Cashner from Baltimore, he has not been at his best but is still 10-6 on the season with a 4.44 ERA. On the flip side, Junis is 6-10, with a 5.03 ERA, and is winless in his last 2 turns, yielding 10 runs on 16 hits in losses to Toronto and Cleveland. The Red Sox have owned the Royals, winning 8 straight and 9 of the last 10 meetings. The Champs get it done.
TONIGHT’S PICK: BOSTON RED SOX