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MLB Baseball Betting Preview: Baltimore at Oakland
Baltimore's Erik Bedard goes to the hill vs. Oakland's Joe Blanton tonight. (AI Wire)
Erik Bedard hopes to shake off the effects of a stiff neck Friday night when he returns to the mound for the Baltimore Orioles in the opener of a three-game set with the struggling Oakland Athletics.
Bedard (8-4, 3.22 ERA), one of the few bright spots for Baltimore (42-52), was scratched from his scheduled outing on Wednesday after waking up Monday with a stiff neck. Daniel Cabrera started in his place and was tagged for five runs and eight hits in five innings of a 6-5 loss at Seattle as the Orioles dropped two of three in the series.
The A's hope Joe Blanton (8-6, 3.36) can create some momentum from the victory and avoid losing a career-high third consecutive start. The right-hander dropped his second outing in a row Saturday, yielding four runs and 10 hits in 7 2-3 innings of a 4-3 loss at Minnesota.
Blanton was roughed up in his last meeting with Baltimore on May 27, giving up eight runs and 10 hits -- including three home runs -- in six innings of an 8-4 defeat.