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For today’s free play we will head to Kansas City where the red-hot Royals look to keep things rolling against the Oakland A’s. The A’s are coming off a loss as a huge favorite against the Minnesota Twins. The same story we’ve seen with Hammel on the mound for the A’s happened again. Poor run support.

In his best start in Oakland, the A’s were only able to manufacture one run. The A’s got out of a jam in the 7th inning in which would be Hammel’s last. But in the 8th and 9th the bullpen gave up five runs, including a two run homer in the 8th.

Today’s starter for Oakland is Sonny Gray while for Kansas City it’s Yordano Ventura. Both have been great young aces for their respective teams.

In handicapping you have to look for value, and I believe there to be strong value for Oakland today. Oakland is only -108 thanks to Kansas City’s great win streak.

Though Gray is coming off a rough start, I’d look for him to bounce back in similar fashion as he did in July off a rough start against the Miami Marlins. He also just pitched against Kansas City on the 1st, and although it was a loss, he only allowed three hits in 7 innings.

Yordana Ventura has been equally impressive but has had issues with his command. He has walked nine batters in his last four starts and is escaping out of jams. Look for the A’s to open up this game with some runs early. That’ll be enough for Gray as he seeks to get back in the win column.