The Oakland Athletics host the San Francisco Giants at RingCentral Coliseum in Oakland, California at 9:40 p.m. ET on Friday, August 20. The Athletics snapped a four-game losing streak on Thursday, so perhaps this will be the start of a solid stretch from them.
Can Oakland make it back-to-back wins by taking the first game of this three-game set against San Francisco? Continue reading our Giants vs. Athletics picks and predictions to find out.
Giants vs A's game info
• Location: RingCentral Coliseum, Oakland, CA
• Date: Friday, August 20, 2021
• Time: 9:40 p.m. ET
• TV: NBCSCA, KNTV
Giants vs A's odds
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Giants vs A's betting preview
Starting pitchers
Alex Wood (10-3, 4.14 ERA): Before giving up just two runs over 6.2 innings against the Colorado Rockies on August 15, Wood had allowed 13 runs in his last 15.0 innings of work. It was a nice way for the lefty to respond to a stretch of poor outings.
Now, Wood faces an Athletics team that he was solid against earlier in the year. On June 26, Wood gave up just one earned run in 5.1 innings of work and struck out eight batters against Oakland.
James Kaprielian (6-4, 3.33 ERA): Kaprielian has given up just five runs over his last two starts, and both of those games were Oakland victories over the Texas Rangers.
The righty now gets to start another game at home, where he is 4-2 with a 1.42 ERA on the season. It’ll be interesting to see whether or not he starts striking out batters at a higher clip soon. Kaprielian normally misses a decent amount of bats, but he has just four strikeouts in his last 11.1 innings on the hill.
Weather
Be sure to monitor the gametime conditions with our MLB weather info.
Key injuries
Giants: No injuries to report.
A's: OF Ramon Laureano (out)
Find our latest MLB injury reports.
Betting trend to know
The Giants are 9-2 in their last 11 games. Find more MLB betting trends for Giants vs. A's.
Moneyline pick
The Giants have the fourth-most homers in baseball when facing right-handed pitching, and they’re also Top 10 in RBIs and runs scored against righties. This offense has been absolutely dynamite when not facing lefties, and the Giants should be able to put up some runs against Kaprielian in this game. One of the only fault that San Francisco has is that the team is third in baseball in strikeout rate, but Kaprielian hasn’t been missing many bats as of late.
As is always the case against right-handed pitchers, you’ll want to keep an eye on Brandon Crawford in this game. The shortstop absolutely rakes against righties, and that could ultimately be a huge difference-maker here. Also, don’t be surprised if Mike Yastrzemski has a big game for the Giants. The 30-year-old has really struggled recently, but he’s bound to break out of his slump soon.
This game also sets up pretty nicely for Wood. The Athletics are just 20th in the league in batting average against southpaws, so he should be able to avoid making disastrous contact against this Oakland lineup. He just needs to make sure he doesn’t hang any pitches over the middle, as the Athletics hit for a lot of power on both sides of the plate.
PREDICTION: Giants ML (-116)
Over/Under pick
The Giants have scored just five runs over their last two games, but look for them to snap out of it with a solid performance in this one. Kaprielian hasn’t had the same stuff we saw from him early in the season, and he’s definitely capable of getting shelled against a San Francisco lineup that hits righties extremely hard.
Also, while Wood gets to face an Athletics team that struggles against left-handed pitching, there’s a good chance that Oakland will get a hold of one or two in this game. The Athletics have so much pop scattered throughout the lineup, and it’s just hard to keep them completely down.
PREDICTION: Over 8.5 (-110)
Giants vs A's betting card
- Giants ML (-116)
- Over 8.5 (-110)
Picks made on 8/20/2021 at 12:10 a.m. ET
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