The Cleveland Indians (7-8, 3-6 away) and the Oakland Athletics (10-7, 7-4 home) begin a three-game series Friday night. The game will be played in the Oakland Coliseum at 10:05 PM ET and marks the beginning of a six-game west coast road trip for the Indians.
The MLB betting lines list the Athletics at -155 and the Indians at +135 with an over/under of 7.5.
Both teams avoided sweeps in their respective series Thursday night by picking up wins. Cleveland, after losing their first two to the Minnesota Twins, rode the strong arm of Mitch Talbot to an 8-1 victory. Oakland, losers of two straight to the New York Yankees, stopped their six-game win streak with a 4-2 victory.
Jake Westbrook (0-1, 5.40 ERA) will make the start for the Cleveland Indians. He is coming off of a decent start against the Chicago White Sox last Saturday. He pitched seven innings and allowed 2 runs and 5 hits in a no decision. The former back-to-back 15 game winner has struggled since the 2006 season and did not play at all during 2009. He has won his last five decisions over Oakland, posting a 3.24 ERA in those six starts. He hasn’t faced the A’s since 2007 and is looking for his first win in over two years.
Justin Duchscherer (1-0, 2.41 ERA) will take the mound for the Oakland A’s. He is also a former All Star who missed all of 2009. He pitched 7 1/3 scoreless innings on April 12 against the Seattle Mariners, earning a win in his only decision of the season. He is coming off of a Saturday start in which he gave up 2 unearned runs in 5 2/3 innings against the Baltimore Orioles. In 2008, he went 1-1 with a 1.54 ERA in two starts against Cleveland.
Thursday’s win snapped a three-game losing streak for Oakland. The streak allowed the Seattle Mariners to close the gap between the AL West division rivals, with the Mariners now trailing the A’s by a half game. Seattle will face the Chicago White Sox earlier in the day.
With a win Friday night, Cleveland will have a .500 record for the first time since stating the season 2-2. They are currently in third place in the AL Central and are 3.5 games behind the division-leading Minnesota Twins. The Twins face the Kansas City Royals earlier in the evening.
