Oakland Athletics at Boston Red Sox 6/16/22 - MLB Picks & Predictions

The Thursday MLB schedule will get underway with a battle between the Oakland Athletics and the Boston Red Sox from Fenway Park. The Athletics (21-43) have dropped nine of their previous ten games and are trapped in the AL West Division cellar. Last night, Matt Davidson's solo shot was the only offense that Oakland could muster during a 10-1 road loss against Boston.

Twenty-eight year old righty Paul Blackburn (5-2 2.31 ERA) has been one of the lone bright spots for Oakland. Last time out, Blackburn tossed eight scoreless innings during a 3-2 road loss against Cleveland.

The Boston Red Sox are riding a three-game winning streak and are trying desperately to climb back into the AL East Division race. On Wednesday, Boston OF Alex Verdugo homered and drove in four runs to spark the offense. SS Xander Bogaerts collected three hits and scored a pair of runs for the Red Sox, who improved to 34-29 on the season.

The Red Sox will give the nod to forty-two year old southpaw Rich Hill (2-3 4.38 ERA) on Thursday. Boston has won Hill’s last two starts and he has allowed three runs over his last ten plus frames.