<p>The most pleasant surprise in Baseball so far this season, the San Francisco Giants, begin their annual<br />
Bay Area Battle series with the Oakland A's Friday night out by McCovey Cove. Veteran Johnny Cueto<br />
gets the call for the home team here against lefty Sean Manaea for the visitors. Who do we like here for our <a class="advblue"href="https://www.sportsbettingstats.com/mlb/free-mlb-picks&quot; title="Free MLB Picks">free baseball betting pick</a>?</p>
<h2>MLB Betting Odds </h2>
<p>Friday's <a class="advblue"href="https://www.sportsbettingstats.com/mlb/odds&quot; title="Compare Today's Basebal Betting Lines">baseball betting lines</a> opened Oakland at around -115 for Friday night over San Francisco, with an over/under of 8.5 runs. Early betting action then dipped the A's to -110 and that total to eight.</p>
<h2>A's-Giants MLB Betting Preview</h2>
<p>Oakland just split four games at Texas earlier this week, winning Thursday's series finale 5-1. Just before that, the A's lost two of three games to the Yankees in New York. So Oakland is only 2-4 over its last six games. However, just before that, the A's won seven in a row.</p>
<p>At 46-31 overall, Oakland leads the American League wild-card race by one game over second-place Boston and 2.5 games over third-place Cleveland. The A's are also playing well ahead of schedule against their season wins over/under of 86.5.</p>
<p>San Francisco, meanwhile, just swept two games from the Angels in Anaheim, winning Tuesday 5-0 and Wednesday 9-3. The Giants then had Thursday off.</p>
<p>Just before that, San Francisco took two of three games from Philadelphia, and just before that, it swept four games from Arizona. So the Giants are 8-1 over their last nine games and haven't lost a series in over a month.</p>
<p>At 48-26 overall, San Francisco owns the best record in baseball, a game and a half better than second-place Houston. The Giants are also playing way ahead of schedule against their season wins O/U of 75.5. In fact, San Francisco only needs 28 wins through its remaining 88 games to go over that total.</p>
<p>This is the first meeting between these two teams this season. Last year Oakland took five of six games from the Giants.</p>
<h2>Friday's Pitching Match-Up </h2>
<p><a class="advblue"href="https://www.sportsbettingstats.com/mlb/pitcherlog/39744&quot; title="Johnny Cueto Pitching Logs">Cueto</a>, by our strict standards, is just 2/11 on quality starts this season and 0 for his last three. Last Friday, he held Philadelphia to three runs on six hits, although two of those left the yard through six innings of a 5-3 San Francisco victory. But we don't rate that as a quality start because three runs in six innings is a 4.50 ERA. And over his last three starts, he's allowed 12 runs – 11 earned – and 21 hits, including six home runs, through 15 2/3 innings.</p>
<p>On the season, the Giants are 7-4 with Cueto, but that's probably two games better than they should be.</p>
<p>In August of last season, in his most recent start against Oakland, Cueto only allowed two runs and three hits through seven frames, although San Francisco eventually lost that game 8-7 in extra innings.</p>
<p>Lefty <a class="advblue"href="https://www.sportsbettingstats.com/mlb/pitcherlog/79524&quot; title="Sean Manaea Pitching Stats">Manaea</a> is 7/15 on quality starts this year and three for his last five. Last Sunday, he held the Yankees to two runs and three hits through 5 1/3 innings, with 11 strikeouts, although the A's lost that game 2-1. And over his last five starts, he's allowed just four runs and 24 hits through 32 2/3 innings, with ten walks and 35 strikeouts.</p>
<p>The A's are 11-4 with Manaea this season, 4-1 over his last five starts.</p>
<p>In his most recent start against the Giants, in August of last season, Manaea allowed two runs and three hits through five innings of a 7-6 Oakland win.</p>
<h2>Splits With the Sticks</h2>
<p>Oakland is batting .235 this season against right-handed pitching, with a .319 team OBP and a .411 team slugging percentage. The A's have also scored at least five runs seven times in their last ten games.</p>
<p>San Francisco is slashing .243/.331/.427 against left-handed pitching this season. The Giants have also scored at least five runs each of their last nine games! </p>
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<span style="font-size:16px;"><b><span style="color:#008000;">Get more details:</span></b> <a class="advblue" href="https://www.sportsbettingstats.com/mlb/matchup/1359006">OAK/SF 6/25/21 Matchup Stats</a></span>
</li>
</ul>
<p></section></p>
<h2>The Bullpens</h2>
<p>The Oakland bullpen owns a 4.03 ERA this season, along with a 1.26 WHIP and a 2.41 K/BB ratio.</p>
<p>The San Francisco pen owns a 3.35 ERA, along with a 1.14 WHIP, which ranks No. 3 in the Majors and a 2.89 K/BB ratio. Numbers like those lead us to rank this unit among the top four bullpens in Baseball right now.</p>
<h2>MLB Betting Trends </h2>
<ul>
<li>The A's are 21-13 on the road this season.</li>
<li>The Giants are 24-10 at home this season.</li>
<li>The A's are 27-21 against right-handed starters this season.</li>
<li>The Giants are 13-8 against left-handed starters this season.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Totals Report </h2>
<p>Unders are 38-37 in A's games this season.</p>
<p>Totals are split 36-36 in Giants games this season.</p>
<p>Unders are a combined 13-11 with Cueto and Manaea this season.</p>
<p>Overs are 20-16 in games played at Oracle Park this season.</p>