The Oakland A’s are coming off of a horrific series where they dropped two of three games at home to the worst teams in the majors—Kansas City. In fact, the Royals are so bad that some internet sportsbooks are now taking wagers on them ending up as the worst team of all time. Oakland bettors were murdered in that series as the A’s were over $2.00 favorites for each game. In game three, the A’s avoided the sweep by winning 7-0.

The Twins are coming off of a series with the LA Angels that was anything but impressive. The Twins dropped two of the three games in LA. Still, the Twins are 6-4 over their last 10 and showing a sign of life. Meanwhile, Oakland has dropped 8 of its last 10 games. To stop the bleeding the A’s are sending Barry Zito to the mound. He has a 3.16 ERA this year, but his home ERA is 4.30. However, his home ERA is inflated, because of a 7 run 1 inning performance to start the season. Lately he has been more to form.

The Twins are sending out Boof Bonser. Who? If you have not heard of Bonser, don’t worry. He was called up from the minors a couple of weeks ago. Today is his third start. There is not too much data here yet, so proceed with caution. His first outing looked impressive. He pitched six innings, struck out 8 and game up 1 run. However, in his next outing, against Seattle, he pitched 5 innings, struck out 5, gave up 8 hits, 1 walk, 1 home run and 4 earned runs. He does get to face a team that struggles at times to put hits together.

The A’s are -164 favorite in this one. The Twins are +144 as the underdog. The under/over is 8.5, which is probably about right given the uncertainty of one starting pitcher.