Surprisingly good value here on the Padres going up against Sonny Gray.
The veteran righty’s numbers this month make for tough reading, headlined by a 5.10 ERA with eight homers allowed.
The Padres haven’t found scoring runs easy, but they do rank dead last in the league in strikeout rate over the last week.
- Tip: Back the Padres to Win @ $1.87
- Player Pick: Manny Machado to Hit a Home Run, Jurickson Profar 2+ Hits
Big watch here on Blue Jays second-year righty Bowden Francis.
Among qualified starters, the 28-year-old has posted the lowest ERA through the month of August (1.32), lowering it even further last week when he struck out 12 in eight solid innings against the Angels.
This is a tougher test against a Red Sox side that has come good over the last two days, but after allowing only five hits over his last three starts, I’m willing to back Francis’ arm to do the talking.
- Tip: Back the Blue Jays to Win @ $2.20
- Player Pick: Bowden Francis Over 5.5 Strikeouts @ $2.10
Potential World Series preview here between two of the top two teams in baseball.
The pitching matchup hardly lives up to the billing, but it does look a nice spot overall for the Dodgers given some of Baltimore’s run-scoring woes over the last seven days.
The O’s have also ranked inside the Top 10 in strikeout percentage during the same time frame, so for once, I think this could be a decent spot for young Bobby Miller to shine.
Combine all that with the Dodgers’ ability to score against lefties, and the fact they rank 26th in the league in K’s against southpaws, and this suddenly looks a danger spot for Baltimore starter Cade Povich.
- Tip: Back the Dodgers to Win
- Player Pick: Shohei Ohtani 2+ Hits, Teoscar Hernandez to Hit a Home Run