Florida at San Francisco
Tuesday, May 24th, 10:15 PM
(matchup)
The best pitching matchup on the board Tuesday might be in San Francisco as the World Series Champion Giants host the Florida Marlins. Matt Cain gets the start for the home team, opposed by Ricky Nolasco, as San Francisco looks to make it six straight wins. Both teams had Monday off.
Oddsmakers opened the Giants as -130 favorites on the betting line and the public came in quickly and bet that number up. That money line falls into a good range for Giants starter Cain, who has a 13-2 team start record at home as a favorite of -125 to -150. Overall, San Francisco has won 29 of Cain’s previous 39 home starts and the righty has never lost to the Marlins in seven career starts, posting a 2.98 ERA. The team is 6-1 overall in those outings.
Cain allowed only three hits his previous outing, an 8-5 win over the rival Dodgers as a +120 underdog. He struck out seven batters for the second straight start. The Giants haven’t lost since as they swept Bay Area rival Oakland over the weekend. A win today would equal a season high for most consecutive wins.
Overall, the club has won 14 of its last 18 games. That’s pretty incredible when you consider they have failed to plate more than four runs in nine innings in 16 of those games. They enter Tuesday with a 3.5 game lead in the NL West over Colorado.
Florida is battling with Philadelphia for first place in the National League East. The enter play today trailing the Phillies by two games. The Fish missed out on a sweep of in-state rival Tampa Bay on Sunday, getting shut out by James Shields. Our betting trends reveal that the Marlins stand an excellent chance of bouncing back tonight as they are 10-3 in road night games and 7-1 away from home off a loss.
Starter Nolasco has yet to lose a decision this season, but his team has failed to win any of his previous three starts. The good news is that Florida is 12-1 when Nolasco is working on five or six days rest and 14-7 when he starts and is a road underdog.
Nolasco (3-0, 3.32 ERA in nine starts) has a 2-2 team start record vs. the Giants in his career. He could be effective here against a San Francisco lineup averaging just 3.1 runs per game in this park.
Totals players should take note that the Giants are 8-0 Under the total this season at home and off a win by two runs or less. This will be the sixth straight Giants game where the total is 6.5 or less.
