MARK FRANCO
Phillies -132
The Cincinnati Reds have snapped out of their slump with three wins in five games, but must buck history to keep it going when they visit the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday night for the opener of a three-game series. The Reds have not won a series at Philadelphia since 2006, going 0-9-1 in the last 10 sets with just 10 victories in 35 games overall in that span at Citizens Bank Park.
Adleman was knocked around by Colorado last time out, giving up six runs and seven hits over 4 2/3 innings, coming on the heels of a one-inning stint at San Francisco due to a neck strain. The 29-year-old Georgetown product posted back-to-back wins to start May, holding the New York Yankees and Pittsburgh to five runs over 11 innings combined. Adleman lost his only start against the Phillies in 2016, allowing three runs over five frames.
Nola was solid in his first start in a month after dealing with back issues, permitting just one run and four hits in seven innings of a 1-0 loss to Pittsburgh. The 23-year-old LSU product gave up eight runs and 20 hits over 16 innings in his three starts during April when he went 2-0. Joey Votto is 0-for-5 and Scott Schebler 0-for-3 with three strikeouts versus Nola, who is 1-0 with a 1.29 ERA in two career starts against Cincinnati.
Jeff Benton
Comp play for Friday will be Washington on the Run Line over San Diego.
The Padres have made a little noise of late, taking the last 2 of their 3 game set in Queens against the Mets, and 3 of their last 4 overall, but I don't see the Fathers luck continuing tonight in Washington.
The Nationals saw their 3-game winning streak snapped yesterday afternoon at home against the Mariners, but I will side with Max Scherzer to do the dealing on the hill after as the Nats are still 7-2 their last 9 at home.
Scherzer is mired in a 3 start winless stretch, but has gone 2-2 with a slender 2.57 ERA in his 8 career starts against San Diego.
About time Mighty Max deals a quality start for his club!
Luis Perdomo will counter and is fresh off a pounding he absorbed when he faced Arizona his last time out - 8 runs on 11 hits in just 3-plus innings worked!
This one sets up as a Nats 2 runs or better win at home on Friday, so side with Washington on the Run Line tonight.
4* WASHINGTON -1.5
Brad Wilton
Friday night comp play is the Athletics and Yankees to open their weekend series with some runs on the Yankee Stadium scoreboard.
This play is based on the fact Masahiro Tanaka appears to be experiencing arm issues. Yes, rain yesterday gave him an added day of rest, but when you have allowed 22 runs (21 of them earned) and 32 hits (10 of them home runs!) over just 18 innings pitched your last 4 times to the mound...well, something is wrong!
Tanaka has seen each of those last 4 starts land Over the total, and the Over is 7-2 for the season when he starts.
Oakland has played Overs in 8 of their last 11 games, and 16 of their last 22 games overall have also played High.
Stick with the offense to do the damage tonight.
A's-Yanks Over.
2* OAKLAND-N.Y. YANKEES OVER
Eric Schroeder
My free winner for Friday is on the Houston Astros, who welcome the Baltimore Orioles to town, and should win this game with ease.
The Orioles have lost four in a row, including a three-game sweep at the hands of the Minnesota Twins.
Baltimore is struggling offensively right now, and does not look like the home run powerhouse we've become used to over the years. The Orioles, who rank third in the majors this season batting .311 with runners in scoring position, are just 4-for-20 (.200) in that situation during their skid.
That won't help when going up against a Houston offense that is averaging .266 this season, ranking seventh in the league. The Astros also rank seventh in the bigs with 237 runs plated this season.
Take Houston tonight, as it gets past the O's.
4* ASTROS
Dwayne Bryant
Padres at Nationals
Play: Under 7.5
Lots to like about San Diego's Luis Perdomo when betting this Under. First, his 69% GB% is #1 in MLB among all starting pitchers who have thrown at least ten innings this season. Secondly, the Nationals have only faced him once and that was last July. Lastly, Perdomo is in a big bounce-back spot tonight after getting rocked by Arizona six days ago.
Also lots to like about Washington's Max Scherzer. Scherzer strikes a TON of hitters, and his K-BB% is #3 among all MLB starters who have thrown at least 20 innings this season (behind only Chris Sale and Noah Syndergaard). And he's facing a Padres bunch that owns the league's second-highest K% against righties. Scherzer is also in a bit of a bounce-back spot tonight, as he is coming off only his second non-quality start of the season.
Both bullpens are hit or miss, but they've both been okay lately. And I expect six innings out of Perdomo and seven innings from Scherzer.
So we get plenty of ground balls from Perdomo, and plenty of K's from Scherzer. Sounds like the makings of a low-scoring ballgame to me.
The Prez
Angels at Marlins
Play: Under 8
The L.A. Angels and Miami Marlins are the lone interleague series this Memorial Day Weekend. First pitch on this Flashback Friday is slated for 7:10 p.m. ET at Marlins Park in Miami, Florida with a pitching matchup between Jesse Chavez (4-5, 4.61 ERA) and Dan Straily (2-3, 3.70).
The Miami Marlins enter the holiday weekend with the fewest wins (16) in Major League Baseball and had little success against American League franchises going 3-9 this season.
The Angels starter, Chavez, surrendered five runs on seven hits over 5 2/3 innings of work in his last start but earned the win in a game against the New York Mets. Chavez allowed three home runs in the victory and has been susceptible to the long ball this season. He has allowed at least one home run in each of his last seven appearances. The Marlins are familiar with Chavez who has made two starts and has 10 appearances vs. the Fish in his career and sports a 1-2 mark with a 7.27 ERA. Home runs are the reason for the variance between Chavez' 4.61 ERA and 3.55 xFIP. Marlins Park is pitcher-friendly and mitigates the fly ball tendencies of Chavez.
Straily continues to avoid regression that appears inevitable with his .188 BABIP and 35 percent hard contact rate. His ability to miss bats assists in his stranded runner rate and over the last eight starts the right-hander has surrendered four or fewer hits in each turn. Straily has a strike out per inning pitched this season that comes with his 22 walks in 49 innings of work. It is advisable to ignore Straily's surface numbers when he spend nearly four seasons in the AL West with the Oakland Athletics and Houston Astros. His 1-4 with a 7.81 ERA in eight career starts against Los Angeles don't represent his FIP or his splits, home and away, pitcher or hitter-friendly parks.
Straily is a solid fit at Marlins Park as is Chavez and the conditions in South Beach tonight call for a low scoring affair.
Buster Sports
Chicago at Los Angeles
Play: Chicago +122
We have the look of a live dog here tonight in LA as the Cubs open a 3 game series against the Dodgers. The starting pitchers are for the Cubs RH Jake Arrieta (5-3, 4.80 ERA) and he will face the Dodgers LH Alex Wood (5-0, 1.88 ERA) Arrieta has not had the year he was hoping for so far but it is early and he is well removed from the pitcher who in 2015 was 22-6 with a 1.77 ERA and a CY Young award winner. Nevertheless he can still be an effective starting pitcher and we are getting some nice plus money with him tonight. As for Wood he has been pitching lights out so far this year as his 1.88 ERA would suggest. When he has faced the Cubs in his career he has a 4.05 ERA with a WHIP of 1.75. Wood might be pitching a bit over his head and the Cubs are very good against LH starters as they have an 8-4 record so far this year. The Cubs have also won 5 out of the last 6 meetings between the clubs.
Tony Finn
Braves at Giants
Play: Under 8
The San Francisco Giants have not represented themselves as most MLB pundits projected they would before the 2017 campaign begun. ESPN.com Senior Writer David Schoenfield wrote it best, "We're not used to that (the Giants being a bad baseball team). Since 2009, they've had just one losing season, and entering this season only four franchises had won more games the past eight seasons."
The offense for the Giants has been the team's Achilles. San Francisco ranks last in the majors in wOBA and 29th in runs.
Harry Bondi
HOUSTON (-135) over Baltimore
Tonight we go against a Baltimore team that is really reeling. Orioles have lost four in a row including dropping 3 straight at home to the Twins. Baltimore has been brutal on the road dropping 8 of their last 10 road games. That is not the way you want to be playing when you head to Houston to take on the team with the best record in major league baseball. Kevin Gausman starts tonight for Baltimore and he is 1-6 in his last 7 decisions with a 8.04 ERA and has allowed five or more runs four times in that seven game span. Let’s take the Astros over the reeling birds.
OC Dooley
Cubs / Dodgers Under 7
We are in the totals range where one would think that both staff aces would be challenging each other, so arguably the "oddsmakers" have made a major statement. Alex Wood has twirled 3 consecutive SCORELESS starts for Los Angeles and will be opposed by Jake Arrieta whose last regular season appearance at Dodger Stadium (August of 2015) resulted in a NO HITTER. While Arrieta is having some problems this campaign and is coming off a wild 13-6 slugfest that was won by the Cubs, he permitted just ONE earned run in that assignment. Each of the last THREE times that tonight's starting pitchers have faced the opposition all 3 games stayed UNDER the total