The Texas Rangers have not had much success in Kolby Allard’s outings, going 2-12 in his last 14 starts as they turn to him to limit the hard contact against the Oakland Athletics on Saturday.
Allard has surrendered two home runs in each of his last four starts and allowed at least three runs in 11 of his last 13 starts, posting a 6.15 ERA with 2.5 home runs per nine innings allowed.
Though the Rangers are scoring the fewest runs per game in MLB since the All-Star break (3.5), they have plated at least four runs in 12 of their last 17 games.
The Athletics counter with Cole Irvin, who has allowed at least three runs in five straight starts, posting an 8.14 ERA with opponents hitting .381 off of him in this span. He has lasted past five innings just once in those games.
The Athletics entered the series ranked 24th in bullpen ERA the past 30 days (5.00), so we should see plenty of runs in Oakland on Saturday.
The play: Rangers-Athletics total, Over 8.5 runs.