Athletics vs Nationals prediction and odds for Sunday, August 13 (High-Scoring in DC)

The Washington Nationals took a 3-2 win over the Oakland Athletics on a walk-off homer from Keibert Ruiz at home yesterday. The 52-66 Nats are up 2-0 in the series and will go for the sweep with Trevor Williams on the mound today. Oakland is 33-84 after those losses and will counter with Ken Waldichuk.

Waldichuk is 2-7 in 26 games this year with a 6.30 ERA. He has made 15 starts including a strong one last time out. Williams will be making his 24th start today and is 5-7 with a 5.00 ERA.

Let’s check out the odds for the series finale in DC. 

Athletics vs. Nationals odds, run line and total

Athletics vs. Nationals prediction and pick

This Ken’s job is throw and last time out Waldichuk did a pretty good job. He went six innings allowing just two runs on six hits with seven strikeouts. His FIP is 5.38 and his xERA is 4.87, so I think we can expect a string of decent starts coming his way as he tries to drag his ERA below six. This just might not be the best matchup for him.

The Nationals are ninth in the league in OPS against left-handed pitchers like Waldichuk and they’ve managed to stay there even after trading away Jeimer Candelario. Lane Thomas has a 1.016 OPS against lefties with eight home runs and 25 RBI. Stone Garrett is right behind with 24 runs driven in and six home runs.

Waldichuk’s xERA is much better than his ERA, but it’s important to not confuse that with it being good because it’s not. Neither is Trevor Williams’ which is at 5.24. Williams is 12th percentile in strikeout rate and 10th in expected slugging. He gets hit hard and doesn’t miss bats.

Oakland doesn’t have a ton of impact bats, but Zack Gelof has been hot in August with seven of his 11 hits going for extra bases. These teams also have two of the three worst bullpens in baseball, so I’ll take the over here.

Follow all Josh Yourish’s bets HERE

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change