The Los Angeles Angels took the opener of this series against the San Francisco Giants in a 7-5 victory to snap a seven-game losing streak. Will the Angels follow it up with another victory, as they start Shohei Ohtani this Thursday? Or, will the Giants recover right away and send the Angels back down to Earth?

Catch this game live on Thursday, August 10, at 9:38 AM, Manila time

Away: San Francisco Giants (62-52/29-28 Away)

Starting Pitcher: Ryan Walker (4-1, 2.52 ERA)

The Giants will look to rebound from their loss to the Halos by sending Ryan Walker (probable)  to the mound as San Francisco’s starter. Walker has not pitched longer than 3.0 innings in a game this season, so expect him to be a mere opener for this Thursday for the Giants. In any case, he has been pretty solid on the mound over his last several appearances. In fact, he’s put together a 2-1 record and a 1.65 ERA in his last 10 appearances, a stretch that included two starts. Moreover, Walker seems comfortable pitching away from home, as he’s got a 2.65 ERA and an opponents’ batting average of just .213 in 14 road appearances this year. 

At the plate, the Giants will continue to lean on the hot bat of Wilmer Flores, who went 2-for-3 with a home run and four RBIs on Wednesday.  Flores is hitting an incredible .474 with a 1.261 OPS in 19 at-bats so far in August.

Home: Los Angeles Angels (57-58/30-28 Home)

Starting Pitcher: Shohei Ohtani (9-5, 3.32 ERA)

Baseball unicorn Shohei Ohtani gets the ball for the Angels in this game. He picked up a no-decision in his most recent start, as he lasted just four innings and allowed zero earned runs on three hits with four strikeouts in a 5-3 home loss to the Seattle Mariners last Friday. 

Nevertheless, it appears that Ohtani has gotten it together again on the mound, as he’s now pitched 13 scoreless innings over his last two starts following a three-start stretch in July in which he surrendered 14 earned runs on 19 hits across 16.1 innings. Ohtani could potentially feast on the Giants this Thursday. San Francisco is in the bottom five in the big leagues in batters’ strikeout rate, while Ohtani is No. 3 overall among qualified starters with a 31.8 percent strikeout rate.

PREDICTIONS:

Spread: The Angels ( -1.5) covers.
Over/Under: The total (7.5) hits the Under.