MLB Free Pick of the Day for Saturday, August 3

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By: Al Walsh – Follow him on  Twitter @14AdotWalsh
* 2019 MLB Record: 179-136-7 (56.8%) *
Hey, everyone! SpreadKnowledge is going with a new format for our free article/mailer from here on out. We’ve teamed up Covers and started posting our picks to their site — For our highest-rated picks, you can sign up here or at SpreadKnowledge.com.

We’ll be posting one pick here in this space each day for free. Know that it does have a high value, but it just won’t be the highest-rated one from the SK system. Continue to follow us along in this journey, because there are plenty of good things on the way!

[9:07 p.m. EST] St. Louis Cardinals at Oakland Athletics (ML: -150)
STL: Dakota Hudson – R (10-5, 3.88 ERA/1.54 WHIP)
OAK: Mike Fiers – R (9-3, 3.54 ERA/1.14 WHIP)

The SpreadKnowledge MLB Free Pick of the Day comes to us from the A’s-Cardinals game going on in Oakland. These two teams played each other back in late June, with the A’s taking both in St. Louis. We like the A’s to do so once again, considering they’ve got one of the highest grades in our system.

If you’re an A’s fan, you have to love the fact that your team has a shot to win whenever Mike Fiers is on the mound. It’s an absolutely fascinating stat, but Fiers has allowed three runs or fewer in all 17 of his starts since April 26 – the A’s are 11-6 in those starts. And it’s not like Fiers is doing this against bottom-of-the-barrel teams – he’s faced the Astros twice, Angels twice, Twins twice, Rays twice and Red Sox once over that span.

Tonight’s matchup against the Cardinals should make it 18 in a row with three runs or fewer allowed, considering they’ve scored two runs or fewer in four of the last five games. The A’s pitching, in general, has been solid over the last six games, holding the opposition to five runs or fewer in all of those.

Dakota Hudson had his worst outing of the month in that last game against the Astros, allowing eight hits (3 HR) and five runs over four innings. While the righty has been a solid ground-ball pitcher for most of the season, that control in the lower part of the strike zone just hasn’t been there lately. Hudson has now allowed 10 homers over his last 35 innings of work, and the A’s certainly have more than enough capable bats to add on to that.

All in all, Oakland has won four of its last five games – all of them coming at home. Look for that home-field advantage to play a part once again, and for Fiers to lead his club to the victory.

* Final Score Prediction * Oakland Athletics: 5 – St. Louis Cardinals: 3