JACK JONES
Pirates vs. Phillies
Play: Under 9
The Philadelphia Phillies and Pittsburgh Pirates have two of the weakest lineups in the majors. The Phillies are hitting .242 and scoring 3.8 runs per game on the season, while the Pirates are hitting .240 and scoring 4.2 runs per game.
Chad Kuhl has been at his best on the road this season, posting a 3.96 ERA in over seven starts. Kuhl has owned the Phillies, going 1-0 with a 1.64 ERA and 0.636 WHIP in two career starts against them.
Jeremy Hellickson has held his own for the Phillies this season, going 5-5 with a 4.48 ERA and 1.266 WHIP in 17 starts, including 0-0 with a 2.79 ERA and 1.035 WHIP in his last three. Hellickson is 3-1 with a 2.42 ERA and 0.985 WHIP in four career starts against Pittsburgh as well.
Hellickson is 16-4 to the UNDER in his last 20 starts with a total set of 8.5 to 10 runs. The UNDER is 18-7-1 in Pirates last 26 games overall, including 5-0 in their last five. The UNDER is 13-3-2 in Phillies last 18 games vs. a right-handed starter. The UNDER is 10-4-3 in Hellickson's last 17 home starts.
JOHN MARTIN
Athletics vs. Mariners
Play: Mariners -143
The Seattle Mariners have lost three in a row and will be hungry for a win here Thursday. They have a 4-game series at home against the lowly Oakland A's to close out the All-Star Break and try to get back to .500 on the season. I like their chances of winning Game 1 tonight behind Sam Gaviglio, who is 3-3 with a 3.44 ERA and 1.21 WHIP in nine starts, including 1-1 with a 2.00 ERA and 1.22 WHIP in five home starts. Paul Blackburn will be making just his second start of the season for the A's here. The A's are 13-27 on the road this season where they are hitting .235 and scoring just 3.9 runs per game. The Mariners are 25-20 at home and scoring 5.1 runs per game. Oakland is 9-26 as a road underdog of +100 or higher this season.
DAVE PRICE
Diamondbacks vs. Dodgers
Play: Diamondbacks +136
The Key: The Arizona Diamondbacks will be hungry to avoid the sweep today after losing back-to-back one-run games to the Los Angeles Dodgers, who they are trailing in the NL West. The Diamondbacks have the superior starter here and are underdogs in Game 3. Robbie Ray is 8-4 with a 3.06 ERA and 1.20 WHIP in 16 starts with 128 K's in 100 innings. He has been at his best on the road, going 4-1 with a 1.32 ERA and 0.92 WHIP in 7 starts. Rich Hill is 5-4 with a 4.00 ERA and 1.35 WHIP in 11 starts for the Dodgers, including 3-3 with a 4.03 ERA and 1.41 WHIP in 6 home starts. Ray is 4-3 with a 3.30 ERA and 1.22 WHIP in 10 lifetime starts vs. Los Angeles. Hill is 1-4 with a 5.09 ERA and 1.47 WHIP in 7 lifetime starts vs. Arizona. The Diamondbacks are 7-1 in Ray's last 8 starts and 6-1 in his last 7 road starts. The Diamondbacks are 4-1 in Ray's last 5 starts vs. Los Angeles.
Buster Sports
Baltimore at Minnesota
Play: Minnesota -131
The Twins continue their homestand tonight and welcome the Baltimore Orioles. The Orioles have been just a dumpster fire of late and have continued to go on losing streaks these last two months. Baltimore has lost 5 out of their last 6 games and face the Twins ace of the future in RH Jose Berrios (7-2, 3.44 ERA) Berrios has pitched well for the Twins this year and he has been real good at home. Berrios has a 2.51 ERA with a WHIP of 0.812 in 4 home starts. The Orioles send RH Dylan Bundy (8-7, 4.02 ERA) to the hill and he has pitched hot and cold for the Orioles. At the current time he has really struggled sporting a 8.22 ERA with a WHIP of 1.631 in his last 3 starts. Things do not get any easier for Bundy tonight going up against the Twins on the road. The oddsmaker has this line at 131 at the time of this writing and our numbers had it at 145, so there is some nice value here on the home side.
The Prez
Padres at Indians
Play: Under 9
The lone interleague event on Thursday night takes place at Progressive Field in Cleveland when the Indians host the San Diego Padres. First pitch is slated for 7:10 p.m. ET with the visiting Padres sending rookie Dinelson Lamet (3-2, 5.35 ERA) to the mound to oppose the Tribe's Josh Tomlin (4-9, 6.17).
Lamet comes off a victory in which he surrendered four hits while striking out eight in a career-high seven innings over the Atlanta Braves. The young right-hander is working on three consecutive quality starts and has limited the opposition to a .159 batting average over his three quality efforts.
Tomlin has struggled to a 1-3 mark in his last six starts that includes a 6.90 ERA. Despite his 6.17 ERA on the season he has pitched better than his traditional stat-line. He comes into tonight's event against the Padres with a solid 3.79 FIP and his BB/9 is significantly improved from last year, down to 0.55 from 1.03 in 2016.
The UNDER the TOTAL is 6-0 in Padres last 6 road games and 13-5 in Padres last 18 interleague games as a visitor. The Indians have cashed to the UNDER at a 15-3 clip in their last 18 overall.
Wunderdog
Los Angeles @ Minnesota
Pick: Los Angeles +7
A pair of powerhouses clash in this WNBA showdown, which will mean a fierce effort on both sides. Defending champion Los Angeles is on a roll at 8-0 SU, 6-2 ATS the last eight games. Nneke Ogwumike (19.4 points, 6.7 rebounds per game) and Candace Parker (17 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 1.8 blocks per game) are forces at both ends of the court. The Sparks defeated Minnesota to win the WNBA championship last season and matchup well again. Minnesota is home but on a 1-5-1 spread run here. Take the points and play the Los Angeles Sparks.
Bob Balfe
Braves/Nationals Over 9
This has been a high scoring series with the winner of each game scoring double digits. Tonight the pitchers are a bit better, but Atlanta has the best batting average against left handed pitchers in the National League and the Nationals have the best batting average against right handed pitchers in the National League. Look for another high scoring game.
OC Dooley
Red Sox / Rays Over 7
At most offshore locations this total actually opened at 7-and-a-half runs and had slighty decreased to the "seven" plateau giving us market-value. In this the season of the homerun it is rare to see an extremely low total especially with one of the pitchers being a previously untested rookie. Jacob Faria has given Tampa 5 "quality" starts along with a low ERA (2.23) and outstanding ratio (35 strikeouts versus 4 walks), however for the ENTIRE SEASON to date when facing an opposing hurler that averages 5 strikeouts per start Boston has gone a resounding 16-4 OVER the total. It also should be pointed out that tonight is the THIRD time this season that the Tampa lineup has had the advantage of seeing Chris Sale's array of pitches. Considering that Boston's per game run average (8.8 ) was extremely high during a recent 6-0 run of prosperity, Tampa has no choice but to put runs on the scoreboard