MLB Gas Can Alert For Friday, August 12

Houston Astros vs. Adam Oller (7.63 ERA), Oakland Athletics

The Houston Astros are one of the best teams in baseball, and when they take on one of the worst teams in baseball like the Athletics, you can bet that we will have that game as one of the Gas Cans of the day. Houston just keeps rolling, years now removed from the cheating scandal that helped them win the World Series in 2017, but their offense hasn't missed a beat. They are one of the highest-scoring teams in baseball, and they have the pitching to boot that could propel them once again into the World Series. They are an insane 30 games ahead of Oakland right now, a massive difference that should result in an Astros win on Friday. That, and the Athletics are sending out a terrible pitcher.

Adam Oller gets the start here for Oakland. In his last start, he gave up four earned runs on eight hits and three walks while striking out one over five-plus innings to take the loss in a 7-3 defeat against the Giants. Oller's xSLG and xERA/xwOBA are in the lowest percentile of all pitchers according to Baseball Savant, and he wears an ERA of 7.63 in 13 appearances this season.

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Chicago White Sox vs. Daniel Norris (6.90 ERA), Detroit Tigers

My goodness, it is incredibly painful to be taking the White Sox here to do anything but lose. I mean, you can't ask for an offense that has been more disappointing than Chicago's, which has been one of the very worst in the league. I felt so bad for Dylan Cease yesterday when his team couldn't get him a single run against a washed Zack Greinke. This is very risky, indeed, and I wouldn't blame you at all if you wanted got stay away from the White Sox with a 10-foot pole. However, with the Tigers being just horrendous on both offense and defense, it is hard not to bet on them to take this game against one of the worst starters on the slate.

Daniel Norris will get the start on Friday against Chicago on the hill. He mainly pitched out of the bullpen with the Cubs earlier in the season, but since getting released by them and signing with Detroit, he's been gearing up as a starter at Triple-A Toledo over the last few weeks. Anytime we get a guy who was terrible at the pro level moving up from Triple-A, that is an automatic target when betting against a pitcher. Now watch, he'll pitch a no-hitter against this awful White Sox offense.

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San Francisco Giants vs. Bryse Wilson (5.86 ERA), Pittsburgh Pirates

What a terrible loss that was for the Giants against the Padres the other day, going up 4-0, and then giving up six runs in a single inning to cause me to lose my Giants first five bet. I was very sad, obviously, but they have a chance to redeem themselves here when they take on the terrible Pirates and starter Bryse Wilson. San Francisco has really taken a step back after last season's magical run, which saw them do far better than anyone thought possible. The offense has gotten worse and the pitching as a whole has really been pretty awful outside of Carlos Rodon. He'll be starting on the mound in this one for San Francisco, and he gets to face a Pirates lineup that is bottom-five in runs scored.

Pittsburgh will send Wilson out there to take on the Giants. In his last start, he allowed a run on four hits and no walks while striking out five in five innings of work to earn the win over the Orioles. Wilson had one of his best performances of the season and was rewarded with his first win since July 2. He has picked up just two wins over 15 appearances (12 starts) this year, but he's been relatively effective since the start of July, posting a 3.34 ERA in 32.1 innings over his last six outings. Still, betting on San Francisco may be the play here, as getting back-to-back wins after getting two in 12 starts is pretty unlikely.

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