Xam’s Daily Gems:
Guardians Money Line -142 FanDuel
Tanner Bibee makes the start for the Guardians in the rubber game of this series against the Tigers. He has gotten off to a bit of an inconsistent start this season, coming into today with a 4.46 ERA. However, some of that is skewed by his last start, which saw him give up 6 runs in just 5 innings of work. Before that, he gave up 2 earned runs or less in 4 of his previous 5 starts, which included tough matchups on the road against the Twins, Red Sox, and Braves! In 3 home starts this year, Bibee has a grotesque 7.80 ERA. There’s some positive regression due here. For his career, he has a 3.13 ERA at Progressive Field. The Tigers counter with righty Reese Olson. In 6 starts this year, he has an impressive 2.70 ERA. That does tick up to 3.60 on the road, though. The Tigers have scored 44 runs in the last 10 games, but 22 runs came in just 2 of those games! Even with those offensive outbursts, they’re barely scoring 4 runs per game. The Guardians SHOULD have the elite arms in their bullpen ready for this game after not pitching yesterday. The Guardians are averaging 4.71 runs per game at home this year, which is actually down from their 4.91 runs per game overall! They have the 3rd most runs scored in the American League. If Tanner Bibee can return to form, the Guardians SHOULD be able to take the rubber game of this key divisional series and extend their division lead!
Cardinals First 5 Innings Money Line -172 FanDuel
Sonny Gray’s season got delayed a little bit due to a hamstring injury, but he’s been nothing short of FANTASTIC since making his season debut for the Cardinals. All he’s done is pitch to a 0.89 ERA and 0.86 WHIP in 30.1 innings. In 4 of his 5 starts this year, he’s given up 2 runs or less, and in 3 of them he’s given up 0 earned runs! Of course, his worst start of the year came in Citi Field against the Mets. He has a shot at redemption today. He’s given up 2 earned runs in 3 home starts this year. However, the key to this Play is who the Mets are countering with. That would be southpaw Jose Quintana. He has been nothing short of terrible on the road this year. In 4 road starts, he has an ERA of 8.20! He got blasted in Tampa Bay his last time out, to the tune of 8 runs in just 2.2 innings! In his last 2 road starts, he’s given up 13 runs! It should be noted he pitched his best game of the year against the Cardinals on 4/28, going 8 innings and giving up 1 earned run. However, that was at home. He’s just a different pitcher on the road. If the Gray can continue doing what he’s been doing, the Cardinals shouldn’t have ANY ISSUES coming out strong and scoring runs against a TERRIBLE road pitcher this season.