Las Vegas at Cincinnati

The Athletics arrive in Cincinnati riding a seven-game losing streak and a 45-69 record that's about as bad as it looks, so there's no case to make that this is secretly a good team. The case is Andrew Abbott, who just walked five batters over five innings in a 4-1 loss to Pittsburgh, the kind of command breakdown that doesn't fix itself between starts. His season line still reads fine at 3.91, but the control has slipped, and a lineup that's found runs even in a lost season can make him pay for free baserunners. Mason Barnett draws the ball for the Athletics in just his second career start, a 4.85 ERA rookie without much of a track record to lean on, and this isn't a bet that he outpitches Abbott. It's a bet that Cincinnati's command-shaky lefty gives away a game the Reds are favored to win comfortably. Informed money is already on the Athletics early, and at +150 this side only needs to win two times in five to turn a profit. The A's are the play this afternoon.