The Reds have scored a total of eight runs in three games vs. Arizona in their first series without Joey Votto, and their starter Mike Leake has not pitched well in two starts vs. the D-Backs. Take Arizona at a nice price on Thursday.
A decent-sized upset could be in store on Thursday afternoon when Joe Saunders and the Arizona Diamondbacks (44-47 overall, 21-26 away) take on Mike Leake and the Cincinnati Reds (51-40 overall, 27-18 home) as the teams wrap up a long four-game series from Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, OH at 12:35 ET.
The money line at Pinnacle Sports has Arizona as a decided underdog for this contest at current odds of +128.
The Diamondbacks have taken two of the first three games of this series to knock the Reds back into a first place tie with the upstart Pittsburgh Pirates in the National League Central and Cincinnati has amassed only eight runs and is batting only .229 as a team over the three games.
Then again, a dropdown in the Reds’ run production was inevitable due to the loss of Joey Votto, as the former MVP had knee surgery a couple of days ago and will be sidelined for a minimum of three weeks. Votto is batting .342 this season with 14 home runs and 49 RBI, and yet the Reds are only batting a surprisingly low .249 as a team even with Votto’s production, so it only stands to reason that they are struggling to score runs right now.
Furthermore, nobody knows what Cincinnati will get on the mound today from the inconsistent Leake. Granted, Leake has reeled off five consecutive Quality Starts to lower his ERA to 3.96 for the season, but he is 3-6 overall andhas demonstrated that he can implode at any time, and he did not pitch well in his two career starts vs. Arizona, which both came last season.
Leake allowed nine runs, all earned, on 13 hits plus four walks in 11.2 innings over those two starts. Also, he is not much of a strikeout pitcher with only 70 in 104.2 innings this year and he has a fairly low groundball-to-flyball ratio of 1.27, which is not a good combination when pitching in the most hitter friendly stadium in the National League, especially on hot afternoons.
In case you are wondering, the weatherman is calling for a high in the mid-90s in Cincinnati today.
Arizona has bounced back well in this series after getting swept three games by the lowly Chicago Cubs last weekend, winning the series opener 5-3 on Monday and winning 7-1 last night, with those wins sandwiched around a 4-0 loss to Reds’ ace Johnny Cueto. The Diamondbacks are in third place in the National League West and still within shouting distance of the division lead, as they trail the first place San Francisco Giants by seven games.
Saunders will be making his second start since being on the Disabled List for a month, and he was understandably spotty in his return vs. the Cubs Saturday allowing three earned runs on eight hits in six innings. He should improve today with that one start under his belt and remember that Saunders has a good 3.52 ERA on the season despite his 4-6 record.
He is certainly catching the Reds at the right time with Votto out and Jay Bruce batting a lowly .119 over the last 10 games. With that in mind, back the Diamondbacks at an underdog price on Thursday.
The money line at Pinnacle Sports has Arizona as a decided underdog for this contest at current odds of +128.
The Diamondbacks have taken two of the first three games of this series to knock the Reds back into a first place tie with the upstart Pittsburgh Pirates in the National League Central and Cincinnati has amassed only eight runs and is batting only .229 as a team over the three games.Then again, a dropdown in the Reds’ run production was inevitable due to the loss of Joey Votto, as the former MVP had knee surgery a couple of days ago and will be sidelined for a minimum of three weeks. Votto is batting .342 this season with 14 home runs and 49 RBI, and yet the Reds are only batting a surprisingly low .249 as a team even with Votto’s production, so it only stands to reason that they are struggling to score runs right now.
Furthermore, nobody knows what Cincinnati will get on the mound today from the inconsistent Leake. Granted, Leake has reeled off five consecutive Quality Starts to lower his ERA to 3.96 for the season, but he is 3-6 overall andhas demonstrated that he can implode at any time, and he did not pitch well in his two career starts vs. Arizona, which both came last season.
Leake allowed nine runs, all earned, on 13 hits plus four walks in 11.2 innings over those two starts. Also, he is not much of a strikeout pitcher with only 70 in 104.2 innings this year and he has a fairly low groundball-to-flyball ratio of 1.27, which is not a good combination when pitching in the most hitter friendly stadium in the National League, especially on hot afternoons.
In case you are wondering, the weatherman is calling for a high in the mid-90s in Cincinnati today.
Arizona has bounced back well in this series after getting swept three games by the lowly Chicago Cubs last weekend, winning the series opener 5-3 on Monday and winning 7-1 last night, with those wins sandwiched around a 4-0 loss to Reds’ ace Johnny Cueto. The Diamondbacks are in third place in the National League West and still within shouting distance of the division lead, as they trail the first place San Francisco Giants by seven games.
Saunders will be making his second start since being on the Disabled List for a month, and he was understandably spotty in his return vs. the Cubs Saturday allowing three earned runs on eight hits in six innings. He should improve today with that one start under his belt and remember that Saunders has a good 3.52 ERA on the season despite his 4-6 record.
He is certainly catching the Reds at the right time with Votto out and Jay Bruce batting a lowly .119 over the last 10 games. With that in mind, back the Diamondbacks at an underdog price on Thursday.
Diamondbacks +128 ---
Комментариев нет:
Отправить комментарий