Braves vs. Athletics Wednesday MLB probable pitchers, odds: Atlanta looks to avoid stunning sweep in Oakland

The Oakland A's have a chance to pull off the most unlikely sweep of the season thus far when they host the World Series favored Atlanta Braves in the finale of their three-game set. The Braves are just the seventh team in the past 22 years to lose the first two games of a road series as at least a -200 favorite in each outing. The previous six clubs are 4-2 in Game 3, and Atlanta is -240 at Caesars Sportsbook Wednesday -- but also was around that same price the first two games.

The last team in the scenario Atlanta faces today was Seattle last September, when it lost the first two of a series in Oakland but then won the finale 9-5. Tuesday's win marked just the second time this season the A's have won two in a row. They entered the series on an 11-game losing streak. Oakland had lost its first nine series at home, one shy of the franchise record, but that streak is over.

The A's are still only 5-23 this month. The lowest winning percentage in May in Athletics history is .190 (4-17) in 1919. The lowest winning percentage in any month in Oakland history (min. 10 games) is .172 (5-24) in June 1979. The 22 losses in May match the 1954 Philadelphia A's for the most in May in Athletics history. The 1979 A's lost 24 games in June, the most losses in a single month in franchise history. 

Oakland starts James Kaprielian (0-5, 8.45 ERA). The A's have been shut out three times in his last six starts. He is 0-3 with a 4.24 ERA in three starts over his last two stints in the majors after going 0-2 with a 12.94 ERA in six games, including three starts, in his first stint with Oakland. Kaprielian hasn't won since Oct. 2, 2022, when he beat Seattle in his final start of the season. It's his first career look at Atlanta.

Braves rookie lefty Jared Shuster (1-2, 5.33 ERA) is trying to win back-to-back decisions for the first time and hasn't faced Oakland. Right-hander AJ Smith-Shawver could debut at some point Wednesday after being called up. The 20-year-old became the youngest player at the Triple-A level after he was promoted to Gwinnett in mid-May. Smith-Shawver is the Braves' No. 4 overall prospect. He didn't begin pitching on a regular basis until his senior year in 2021 at Colleyville (Texas) Heritage High School. Texas Tech tried to recruit him to play quarterback. 

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