Xam’s Daily Gems:
Reds Money Line -116 FanDuel
The Cardinals turn to Andre Pallante today who has a 6.30 ERA. He started as a reliever this year but has gotten starts in the minor leagues. The Reds have an underrated lineup and should be able to produce runs. The Reds counter with righty Frankie Montas. Montas has a solid 3.04 home ERA this year. He’s also been better during the day than he has at night this year. The Reds have been struggling a little recently to score, but they have the offense capable of putting up runs. The Reds should have a fully rested bullpen for this game as well!
Pirates Money Line -142 FanDuel (Game 2)
Paul Skenes will face the 27th man for the Tigers in Game 2, Keider Montero. It’ll be his MLB debut, facing one of the top young pitchers in baseball. Montero hasn’t exactly pitched well in the minors this year, to the tune of a 4.40 ERA. Skenes has shown elite stuff so far this year, and the Tigers are a weak offensive team. Doubleheaders can always be challenging on bullpens, so having the edge in starting pitching is key. The Pirates SHOULD be able to hit in this game and give Skenes runs to work with.
Padres Money Line -174 FanDuel
The Marlins are one of the worst teams in baseball and the Padres are finally getting it going. Yu Darvish is coming off a horrible start against the Yankees, but before that he had 4 straight scoreless starts! The Marlins couldn’t crack the scoreboard yesterday, and it’s hard to see the Marlins doing much damage today. Braxton Garrett threw a complete game shutout in his last start, but in his first 2 starts of the year he gave up 11 runs! The Padres have a really good lineup and should still have all of their premium bullpen arms for this game as well. The Marlins have the 2nd fewest runs scored in all of baseball and it’s easy to see why.
Orioles -1 -137 DraftKings
Orioles ace Corbin Burnes has been FANTASTIC this season, coming into the game with a 2.60 ERA. He’s been even more dominant at Camden Yards, coming into this start with a beautiful 1.99 ERA in 7 starts! Kutter Crawford has also been really good this year, but the Orioles have been a great run scoring team at home. They’re averaging over 5 runs per game in front of the home fans! The Red Sox can hit as well, but Burnes should be able to neutralize their lineup. The Orioles should have all of their elite bullpen arms available as well after not using most of them in a lopsided loss yesterday.
Yankees -1 -162 DraftKings
The Yankees choked away a win yesterday, but they turn to Luis Gil tonight, who’s been nothing short of fantastic. He has a sparkling 2.11 ERA on the year and has given up 1 run in his last 3 starts, spanning 18.1 innings! He’s given up 2 runs over his last 5 starts, in fact! Southpaw Tyler Anderson goes for the Angels. He’s been great this year, with a 2.62 ERA. However, last year he had a 5.43 ERA and a 4.23 ERA for his career, which suggests there’s some negative regression coming. The Yankees have an elite lineup and it should show tonight! They lost yesterday due to a quiet offensive night, miscues on the bases, and an error in the 8th inning. Hard to see all of that coming together against them tonight again.
James Paxton 4+ Strikeouts -145 DraftKings
The Dodgers played a doubleheader yesterday and went to extra innings in the first game, so they’ll have every reason to let James Paxton go as deep as he can in this game. He has 4 or more strikeouts in 5 of his 9 starts this year and 4 strikeouts in 3 of his last 5. His pitch count has hovered around the mid 90s for much of this season, so he may get the chance to go a little further to give the Dodgers length. The Mets are around middle of the pack in strikeouts per game and they just haven’t hit for most of this season. Dodgers starters struck out 15 Mets hitters in the doubleheader yesterday. If Paxton can keep his pitch count under control, he should be able to miss bats and hit this number for the 4th time in his last 6 starts!