Athletics at Reds
O/U 9.5 · RL Reds -1.5
Reds ML-161
CONF 64%
WCashedFinal 2-3
The read
It's eighty-seven degrees by the river tonight with a light breeze blowing across the field, and a team that hasn't won a game in over a week is walking into the easiest place to hit in the league. Oakland's dropped six straight and just got swept at home by Detroit, including one afternoon where they got shut out badly enough that it looked like they'd already given up. Cincinnati won the opener Tuesday when a couple of pitches got away from the Oakland catcher in the eighth, and now they get game two against that same shaky bullpen.
Start with lefty-righty. Terry Francona is putting eight right-handed hitters in the lineup against Jacob Lopez, and righties have absolutely feasted on him all year — that's where every bit of the damage against him comes from. The underlying numbers say he's pitched better than his results, I won't argue that, but he walks too many guys and he never gets deep into games — his last six starts have all ended somewhere in the fourth, fifth or sixth at the latest, and a couple didn't even get that far. Call it five innings and gone, which dumps the rest of the game on a bullpen where the only two arms Mark Kotsay actually trusts, Hogan Harris and Elvis Alvarado, have both pitched two days in a row. Harris is the guy whose wild pitches lost Tuesday's game. Cincinnati's relievers, meanwhile, each threw a quiet inning last night and everybody's fresh.
Rhett Lowder's overall season numbers don't look good and I'm not going to pretend otherwise. But he's been a completely different pitcher at home than on the road, and his worst outing of the year came in the thin air of Colorado — take that one away and his last two starts have been excellent. The lineup facing him is missing four of its best bats in Brent Rooker, Nick Kurtz, Shea Langeliers and Zack Gelof, and it's barely scoring three runs a night while losing nine of its last ten. At this price I need to win a little more than six times out of ten to profit, and a righty-heavy lineup against the wrong-handed starter, a short outing, and a gassed bullpen in a ballpark that makes you pay for mistakes gets me there with room to spare. Reds to win.
The full analysis
**Gary's Take — Athletics at Reds, 6:40 ET, Great American Ball Park**
Eighty-seven degrees on the river, a three-mile-an-hour breeze drifting from right to left, and a team that hasn't won since the calendar turned rolling into the friendliest yard in the National League. The Athletics come in on a six-game skid, freshly swept out of Sacramento by Detroit — including an 11-0 afternoon that read more like a resignation letter than a box score. Cincinnati took the opener Tuesday on a pair of wild pitches in the eighth, and now gets game two with the same bullpen problem sitting across the diamond.
Start with the handedness. Terry Francona is sending eight right-handed bats at Jacob Lopez, and right-handed hitters have hit .294 with an .890 OPS and ten home runs off him in 201 at-bats this season — the entirety of his damage lives on that side of the plate. His peripherals are better than his ERA, I don't dispute that, but he walks better than five per nine and he does not finish innings: his last six turns went 3.2, 2.0, 1.2, 4.1, 5.0, 5.1. Call it five and out, which hands roughly four innings to a relief corps whose only two arms manager Mark Kotsay actually trusts, Hogan Harris and Elvis Alvarado, have both worked each of the last two days — and Harris is the one who threw the three wild pitches that decided Tuesday. Cincinnati's pen, by contrast, gave Sam Moll, Julian Garcia and Emilio Pagán a clean inning apiece last night and has everybody available.
Rhett Lowder's season-long line is unattractive and I'm not going to dress it up. But he has a 3.07 ERA over forty-one innings in this ballpark against 7.71 everywhere else, and the ugliest start on his ledger came at altitude in Colorado — strip that one out and his last two turns are eleven innings and four earned. Standing in against him is a lineup missing Brent Rooker, Nick Kurtz, Shea Langeliers and Zack Gelof that has scored 3.1 runs a game while losing nine of ten. I need a shade over 61 percent to make this price work, and the combination of a right-handed lineup against the wrong-handed arm, a short starter, and a burnt-out bullpen in a park that punishes mistakes gets me past it comfortably enough. **Reds moneyline at -161.**
About this analysis
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- Gary AI, an AI sports-analysis product operated by Gary A.I. LLC. No human reviewer is claimed unless one is explicitly named.
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- Board stored August 5, 2026 at 12:45 PM ET.
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Props on this game
3Elly De La CruzOVER 0.5 Walks Walks-101
Not yet graded
De La Cruz has walked in eleven of his last fifteen games. That's not a small sample fluke, that's a switch-hitter seeing the ball well from both sides of the plate right now.
The pitcher on the mound tonight has issued forty-two walks in seventy innings this season — 5.4 per nine — and that number didn't correct itself even during his best recent outings; his last three starts covered fourteen and two-thirds innings and he still walked eight hitters. Command problems don't fix themselves against a patient hitter on a hot on-base stretch.
I'll take the walk.
Sal StewartOVER 0.5 RBI RBI+129
Not yet graded
Stewart has sixteen RBIs and four home runs over his last fifteen games — a legitimately hot bat — and he's driven in a run in ten of those fifteen. He hits second behind Elly De La Cruz, who's reaching base at a high clip right now, and he's facing a pitcher that right-handed hitters have torched for a .890 OPS and ten home runs across 201 at-bats this season.
Stewart bats right-handed. The lineup slot, the man on base in front of him, the arm on the mound — it all lines up.
The price is treating this like he drives in a run less than half the time. His last two weeks say otherwise.
Sal StewartOVER 0.5 Home Runs Home Runs+310
LActual 0
Stewart's carrying real thunder into this one — four home runs and 16 RBI over his last 15 days, a .938 OPS in the last week, and the exit-velo readings back it up: 91.7 mph average, two barrels on his last 15 balls in play. He's hitting second tonight, so he's getting full run through the lineup and more looks than a bottom-of-the-order bat gets.
The matchup points the same way. Jacob Lopez has been a different pitcher to right-handers than to lefties this season — righties are hitting .294 with an .890 OPS and ten home runs in 201 at-bats against him, more than triple his homer rate against left-handed hitters. Stewart bats right-handed. Lopez's cutter and changeup are also the two pitches getting hurt hardest by opposing hitters this year, both giving up extra-base contact at a high rate.
Great American Ball Park plays small with the ball carrying well, which only helps a right-handed pull hitter.
The price is +310, needing this to land a little better than one in four. Stewart's cleared that bar close to one in three times over his last two weeks. I'll take that gap.
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