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Game Overview

Combatants in the AL West continue their pivotal four-game set in Arlington on ESPN’s Wednesday Night Baseball betting festivities, as the Oakland Athletics and the Texas Rangers duke it out.

Oakland is a heck of a team, and it just keeps showing the resiliency that is going to be needed to get into the playoffs this year. The team has a couple games of safety in the loss column, but both the Tampa Bay Rays and Los Angeles Angels are charging hard down the stretch. One would figure that going 4-4 over the course of last eight games of the season would get the job done, but the way that these other teams are playing, nothing is certain. Tonight, it’ll be up to another youngster, Jarrod Parker to come into Arlington and shut down one of the best lineups in the bigs. The rookie has had himself a solid year, as he is 11-8 with a 3.40 ERA. He has 126 strikeouts and just 58 walks, but most importantly, the ball is staying in the park, as Parker has allowed just nine dingers in 27 outings. He has faced Texas once this year, and it was a gem of a start. Parker threw nine shutout innings of one-hit ball.

Texas would really like to win one of the two games left in this series to make sure that the AL West is tucked away once and for all, but the A’s are making that tough. Losing both of these games would not just put the AL West title in peril, but it could bring the Halos, the first team outside of the playoffs right now, within just four games with six to play, and matters could get quite interesting. The Rangers will want to just take care of business, get the job done, and move onto the playoffs. For just the fifth time this year, Martin Perez is going to get the ball from Manager Ron Washington tonight. The lefty is just 21 years old, but he has some electric stuff. Controlling that stuff can be tough, as Perez has 13 walks against 21 strikeouts in 33.1 innings of work, but there is no doubt that he has the goods to be an MLB pitcher. One of these starts this year came against Oakland, and Perez got his first and, to date, his only major league victory against it, going 5.1 innings and allowing two runs.

Prediction

It’s a tough spot for the Rangers to be in. Oakland really is fighting harder than any other team right now in the AL playoff race, and that is likely to show on Wednesday once again. Back the A’s to at least ensure a crucial split in this series. Oakland 6 – Texas 4