Baseball Betting: Jon Lester and the Oakland Athletics are road favorites on Sunday against the Atlanta Braves on ESPN. Lester has been outstanding with the A’s and he should be able to shut down a weak hitting Atlanta lineup. The Braves have been struggling of late and there is a chance they may not even make the playoffs. They should be going with Mike Minor in this contest and there is not much to like with Minor this season as he is 4-8 on the year. Here is a look at the contest and baseball predictions.
Probable Pitchers – Lester vs. Minor
Lester has been excellent all season and he hasn’t lost yet since with the A’s. He is 3-0 with his new team with a 2.49 ERA. He hasn’t lost a game at all since early June. He has a 2-1 record in his career against the Braves with a 3.32 ERA. “Any time you get a guy like that, you’re happy,” said A’s first baseman Brandon Moss, “It cost us a lot in Cespy. …But I think it made us better. We got Jonny. We got Lester. And Lester’s pitching speaks for itself.”
Mike Minor has not pitched well this season for the Braves as he is 4-8 on the season with a 5.33 ERA. It is hard to find much positive to say about Minor as he hasn’t even pitched well lately as he has a 1-2 record in his last three starts with a 5.40 ERA.
Series Notes
The A’s and Braves haven’t played that often and before this series began they had not met since 2008. The teams are far different now than they were then so there is not much to consider. The Braves did win two of three in 2008 at home with two of the games going under.
Baseball Predictions
The A’s have a big pitching edge and in reality they have a big hitting edge. Oakland is simply the better team all the way around and with Lester against Minor they have what should be a big edge on the mound. We’ll look for the A’s to win this game on Sunday night.
