Baseball | Monday, June 5, 2023 8:28 AM

Pittsburgh Pirates vs Oakland Athletics Best Bet: A's in Steel Town

CREDIT: IMAGO / USA TODAY Network

US Sports Expert

PITTSBURGH PIRATES VS OAKLAND A’S BEST BET: MONDAY, JUNE 5th

The Oakland A’s will be visiting the Steel City to play the Pittsburgh Pirates for a 3-game set that starts on Monday night, and our resident baseball expert Ej Garr is out for revenge. Ej has a pair of bets to offer to start the week off, and he is picking on an Oakland A’s squad that is simply playing terrible baseball this campaign.

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Pittsburgh Pirates vs Oakland Athletics Preview

June 6, 00:05 (UK time)

The Oakland A’s couldn’t find a win if it was hiding in plain sight, and another 4-game losing skid has the AL West outfit on the down and outs! At 12 – 49, this season is already a wash for the Athletics as they reside in the basement in the entirety of MLB.

In the meantime, the Pirates are coming off of a 3-game sweep of the Cardinals while riding a 5-game winning streak into this week. After spanking the Giants for a couple of days in San Francisco, the Buccs returned home and won 3 tight games against St. Louis that could have gone either way.

Firstly, Oakland almost had a win in sight on Sunday afternoon, as they lit up Sandy Alcantara for 5 earned runs in the third inning but that lead slowly slipped away and it turned into another loss for the A’s. Even when good things happen, this team is finding ways to ultimately lose games, and those 5 runs were as many as they had scored in the previous 4 games combined!

The A’s offense ranks 30th in almost every major offensive category they keep in baseball, and if you look over the defensive stats, you should hide the women and children first! No one should have to look at those numbers because they are downright offensive if you get my drift.

I am going to suggest a pair of bets to make for Monday in Steel City, one being a player prop and the other being the Priates Team Total.

Bryan Reynolds is constantly finding hits, and his 60 knocks for the campaign lead the team. His .282 BA looks very nice next to that .488 slugging percentage, and 27 of his 60 hits are for extra bases.

I see William Hill offering the Over 1.5 Total Bases for Bryan Reynolds, and he could do that with one swing of the bat. With an even-money 2.00 line on the prop, that is more than a fair deal to expect Reynolds to snag a pair of bases in this game.

JP Sears is the expected starting pitcher for Oakland, and his propensity to give up the long ball might just work out well for us tonight. Sears has made 11 starts this season, and he has been seen watching balls leave the yard in 8 of those 11 outings. It is supposed to be a perfect day for baseball in Pittsburgh on Monday, and I believe that the Pirates will be enjoying a big home win to start this 3-game series at home.