Cincinnati at San Francisco
Thursday, June 9th, 10:15 PM
(matchup)
The Cincinnati Reds and San Francisco Giants kick off a four-game weekend set at AT&T Park Thursday night and oddsmakers have the visiting Reds as a slight favorite. This will be a matchup of the National League’s best offense against its second best pitching staff, making this a difficult
MLB pick. Cincinnati has scored a MLB best 312 runs while the Giants have allowed only 216.
Only the Phillies have allowed fewer runs this season than the Giants. Here at home, the World Series Champs are allowing an average of only three runs per game, but the problem is that the offense is averaging only 2.9 runs per game. However, over the past seven games, they’ve begun to turn things around outscoring foes by an average of 3.9-2.6. They have won three straight series, taking seven of 10 games overall from the Cardinals, Rockies and Nationals.
The total for this matchup is 7 runs. The Giants are clearly an Under team with five of their previous six games going Under the total, but the Reds have scored more runs than any other team in baseball and have been killing lefties all season with an average of 6.8 runs per game. Therefore, they should be happy to see Giants southpaw Madison Bumgarner in tonight’s series opener. As a team, Cincinnati is batting .298 vs. lefties. The Over is 11-1 this year when the Reds are opposed by a lefty starter.
However, the Reds are just 6-6 and have actually lost money at the betting window vs. lefties, despite those impressive numbers. And Bumgarner has a 2.01 ERA in his previous eight starts, which makes his 2-7 record look pretty phony.
Cincinnati comes in off a 4-1 loss the Cubs yesterday afternoon, and has lost 14 of its last 21 games. They had won the first two games of the series vs. Chicago by identical 8-2 scores. Getting the start tonight will be Johnny Cueto, who is 2-2 with a 2.67 ERA in six starts. He has yet to allow more than three earned runs in any outing, but the Reds lost his last start 11-8 despite the fact that Cueto allowed just two runs and five hits over seven innings. Obviously, the bullpen was to blame.
With the Reds offense against the Giants pitching, this game is going to be a tough call. For winning
MLB picks, please consult the Vegas Experts.
