Cueto and Irvin in a Pitchers' Duel

White Sox vs. Athletics, 4:07 ET

This hasn’t been the best past few days. After an unreal run in baseball, we have gone on a cooler, and while we haven’t lost all three plays in any day, I haven’t been able to steer the ship back to where we need to be. Let’s get that changed today. While everyone else is focused on the NFL slate, I’m going to hone in on the White Sox and Athletics to start.

We easily took the game on Friday when we played them, yesterday the White Sox broke out the bats one again and killed our under play by about the fourth inning. It happens. Now we get another White Sox pitcher that I’ve been looking for in a matchup that I think should be a lower-scoring affair again. Johnny Cueto keeps hurling good games for the Sox. Take out his start against the Diamondbacks, and he hasn’t allowed more than three earned runs in a start since May. Including the Diamondbacks game, he’s only allowed two games with more than three earned runs. The guy is reliable and consistent. In a home start against Oakland at the end of July, he threw seven innings of two-run baseball. Both were solo home runs.

Cole Irvin is pitching for the Athletics. At home, Irvin has been a significantly better pitcher. In 14 home starts, he has allowed just 27 earned runs, good for a 2.76 ERA. That has actually increased quite a bit over the last month or so though. That is mostly due to two starts, one against the Braves (his most recent outing) where he allowed nine earned runs in 4.2 innings, and one against Seattle where he allowed five earned runs in six innings. It is worth noting that he also had a start against the Angels where he went eight frames and allowed just one earned run, and one against the Marlins where he allowed no earned runs over seven innings.

Even with the White Sox hitting well, this might be an opportunity for Irvin to right the ship after that disaster against the Braves. I think we see an under in this game. Since both pitchers tend to go deep into the game, the right play here is under 7.5 for the game.  

For more sports betting information and plays, follow David on Twitter: @futureprez2024