The Oakland Athletics will pay a quick visit to the Great American Ballpark starting this Tuesday night for the first of a two-game interleague set against the Cincinnati Reds. Game 1 is scheduled to get underway at 7:10 p.m. (ET), and it will be available on MLB Extra Innings.

Oakland has lost four of its last five games including two of three to Texas this past weekend, but continues to hold a 2.5-game lead over the Rangers in the AL West Division race. The Athletics are 64-47 overall and 29-27 on the road.

The Reds are just 2-7 in their last nine games, including a couple of losses to St. Louis in a three-game weekend series that dropped them 6.5 games in back of Pittsburgh in the NL Central. Cincinnati is 61-51 overall and 33-19 at home.

Athletics at Reds Betting Storylines

The A’s are definitely not the best hitting team in the American League, but they have done just enough this season to help themselves at the top of the standings. They are ranked 12th in hitting with a team batting average of .243, but they have done a good job at squeezing runs out of their hits with an average of 4.4 a game. They have eight different players with at least 30 RBI on the year, led by Josh Donaldson (61) and Yoenis Cespedes (52). Cespedes is also tied for the team lead in home runs (17) with Brandon Moss.

Look for Dan Straily to get the start for Oakland on Tuesday night. The right-hander has lost three straight since getting called back up from AAA, and he is now 6-5 on the year with a 4.41 ERA. He has been tagged for seven home runs in his last seven games. This will be his first Major League start against the Reds.

Cincinnati is in danger of completely falling out of the division race with its recent slide, but it still has a firm grip on one of the two wild card spots in the playoffs. To lock one down, it will need to find a way to get some more production from a lineup that is hitting just .249 on the year. The Reds have done a good job at getting runners across the plate with an average of 4.3 a game, which is ranked fourth in the National League. The big bats for this team have been Brandon Phillips and Jay Bruce, who have combined for 157 RBI and 35 home runs this year.

The Reds will go with Mat Latos as their starter in this matchup. He is 2-0 with a 2.41 ERA in his last three outings after getting hammered with 10 runs in his first two starts in the month of July. Overall, the right-hander is 10-3 on the year with a 3.37 ERA. This will be his first career start against Oakland.

Athletics at Reds MLB Betting Odds and Trends

BetOnline has opened Oakland as a +140 road underdog for Tuesday night’s series opener with the Reds listed as -150 home favorites. The total has been set at 7.5.

The A’s are 6-4 in their last 10 road games and 6-3 in their last nine games against the National League. The total has stayed “under” in five of their last six games on the road.

The Reds are 2-6 in their last eight interleague games and just 1-4 in their last five games at home. The total has gone “over” in their last three games after staying under in their previous six outings.

Head-to-head in this matchup, Cincinnati has won three of the last five meetings, but it was outscored 12-3 in two previous losses this season in Oakland. The total has stayed under in six of the last eight games between the two.

Athletics at Reds Picks and Betting Predictions

The edge in this game goes to Cincinnati with Latos on the mound. After a couple of rough outings, he has appeared to regain his form over the past few weeks. The Reds will also benefit from playing in their own ball park against a team that is unfamiliar with the surroundings. This one should remain tight all night long, but in the end look for Cincinnati to prevail with a much-needed win.

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