09.08.2023

Texas Rangers @ Oakland A's Game Preview and Prop Pick

The Texas Rangers continue to play winning baseball, as their win last night brought their win streak up to eight and gave them a chance to sweep their third straight series with a win this afternoon. We’ll preview the series' final game before going over which pitcher prop market I’ll be targeting for my play.

Game Preview

Since the trade deadline on August 1st, the Texas Rangers have remained in the win column, and it isn’t just one side of the ball that has led to this winning streak, with both sides playing at an exceptionally high level. With their 6-1 win last night, the Rangers have scored five or more runs in seven consecutive games. In their 13-hit outburst yesterday, Corey Seager continued to play at an MVP-caliber level by going 3-5 with a home run and two RBIs.

Seager’s performance did take some shine away from Max Scherzer in his second start with the team since being acquired at the deadline. The right-hander picked up the win in his first outing and carried that momentum into yesterday by pitching seven innings with one earned run allowed. Today another deadline acquisition will get his second start with the club as Jordan Montgomery will take the mound after his six innings and two earned run performance last week.

Montgomery will take on an Oakland A’s team tonight that looks to be headed for the worst record in the league this season. By only scoring one run last night on a JJ Bleday home run, the A’s have now scored three or fewer runs in seven of their last ten games. The inability to find the run column was not the only problem for Oakland last night, as they struggled just to find the hit column, only recording two singles along with the Bleday home run.

Austin Pruitt gets the start for Oakland this afternoon in what is more than likely an opener role. The right-hander has made five starts and 34 overall appearances for Oakland this season, and in those outings, he has thrown 43 total innings and pitched to a 3.35 ERA.

Prop Pick

Jordan Montgomery’s outs total is currently set at 17.5, and for my play, I’ll be taking the over, which is priced at (-145). The left-hander left the game after 18 outs in his first outing with the Rangers, which means he has gone over today’s total in four straight games and in nine of his last ten outings. With an average of 18.3 outs recorded over his last ten games, Montgomery has an ideal matchup today with a lackluster, at best, A’s offense.

The A’s are hitting .225 against left-handed pitching at home over the last month, and they are ranked 20th in OPS and 16th in OBP in the split as well. Oakland is also averaging 3.85 pitches per plate appearance, which is below the league average, and they have a 31.9% first-pitch swinging percentage, which is above the league average. This is the type of offense you want to target for an outs recorded market.

Montgomery has also set himself up nicely to work deep into games by putting up a first-pitch strike percentage of 65.9%, which is 4.1% higher than the league average. The lefty is also in the 56th percentile in hard hit percentage and is above the league average in groundball percentage, so he looks set up for a fifth straight outing with 18 or more outs recorded.