Boston Red Sox vs. Oakland Athletics

The Red Sox, keeping the top position for the AL East Division race, will hope for another win against the A's in Game 2, when they send their leader, Rick Porcello(18 Wins), to the mound today, Saturday, September 03. Porcello moved to 18-3 Monday, limiting the Rays to three runs over seven frames in a 9-4 victory. Boston's right hander was outstanding in August, posting a 2.62 ERA while completing seven innings or more in each of his six starts. He's thrown seven consecutive quality starts on the road, and has already beaten Oakland once, allowing three runs in 6 2/3 innings in a win on May 11. [The Red Sox defeated the A's in a series sweep, scoring more than 30 runs in 3-three games]. Porcello is 5-3 on the road this year with 3.49 ERA.  Oakland will send pitcher Daniel Mengden against him. Mengden made his big league debut in June. He was excellent out of the gate, but endured a handful of poor outings, prompting the A's to send him back to Nashville.  Mengden was limited to five innings in each of his ensuing six starts, and he responded by going 5-1 with a 2.10 ERA in the Minors. With that, I am expecting Boston to come on top again for 5th straight time, however, I am picking Boston Red Sox with a spread of (+1.5) runs, just in case Mengden repeats his latest good performance from the Minor Leagues. For risky players, a bet on the Money Line (ML) at 1.50 is also a good choice [the logical one].

UPDATE September 04, 2016 - FINAL Result: Boston Red Sox  11-2  Oakland A's. Red Sox clobbered again the A's in Game 2 of the series, this time the result was 11-2. Boston's offense scored a total of 67 runs in 5-five games against the A's this season, putting 9 runs on the board in the fourth inning in Saturday's game.  Porcello, was brilliant, taking a perfect game into the 6-sixth inning before Jake Smolinski doubled over Chris Young's head with one out. Moncada, baseball's top prospect, recorded his first career hit in his first career start, lining an RBI double to left field in the third inning. The win, 76th of the season, allowed Boston Red Sox to draw even with the Blue Jays atop first place in the American League East.