Baseball Information
National League
Rockies @ Mets
Butler is 1-4, 7.86 in his last five starts; under is 4-1-1 in his last six.
Syndergaard is 4-0, 1.13 in his last four home starts; under is 4-1 in his last five starts at Citi Field.
Colorado lost last seven games with the Mets (got shut out in four of last five); home side won 12 of last 13 in series, with last seven staying under. Rockies lost four of last five overall; four of those five stayed under total. Mets won 11 of last 13 games, with last thee staying under.
Brewers @ Cubs
Cravy is 0-3, 5.00 in his three starts (under 3-0); Brewers were shut out in two of those three games.
Lester is 3-0, 1.84 in his last four starts; under is 8-1-1 in his last ten.
Milwaukee lost last six games with the Cubs (under 5-1-1 in last seven); they lost four of last five games (over 4-3 in last seven). Chicago won 12 of its last 13 games; five of last seven went over the total.
Pirates @ Cardinals
Liriano is 2-0, 4.29 in his last four starts (over 4-0).
Lynn is 3-1, 2.32 in his last five starts (under 3-1-1).
Cards won six of last seven games; under is 7-1-1 in their last nine. Home side won seven of last eight series games. Pirates won five of last eight games with St Louis but lost last two; over is 5-3-1 in last nine in series. Pittsburgh won four of last six games (over 4-1-1).
Reds @ Dodgers
Sampson is 1-1, 327 in his two starts (under 1-1).
Former Red Latos is 0-2, 5.63 in his last three starts (under 5-3 in last eight).
Cincinnati is 6-4 in its last ten games with the Dodgers; four of last five went under the total. Reds lost six of last eight games; nine of last 11 stayed under total. Dodgers lost four of last six games; five of their last seven games went over.
Nationals @ Giants
Strasburg is 3-0, 1.19 in his last four starts; four of his last five stayed under.
Vogelsong is 0-2, 5.49 in his last four starts (over 3-1).
Washington won four of last five games with the Giants; six of last seven in series stayed under total. Nationals lost three of last four games, and got shut out last two nights (Greinke/Kershaw); over is 7-3 in their last ten games. San Francisco lost five of last six games; their last three stayed under.
American League
A's @ Blue Jays
Gray is 2-0, 1.13 in his last four starts; under is 6-0-1 in his last seven.
Buehrle is 3-0, 3.48 in his last five starts; last four all went over.
Blue Jays won last ten games, outscoring foes 56-20; four of last five stayed under the total. Oakland lost last two nights 4-2/10-3; under is 9-2-1 in last 12 series games- home team won ten of the twelve.
Bronx @ Indians
Eovaldi is 3-0, 3.23 in his last five starts (under 5-3 in last eight).
Bauer is 1-1, 2.86 in his last three starts; six of his last eight stayed under.
Bronx lost five of last six games with Cleveland, five of last eight series tilts went over. New York lost six of last seven games, scoring nine runs (six of seven stayed under). Indians are 5-2 in last seven games; three of last five went over.
Angels @ Royals
Richards is 1-3, 4.55 in his last four starts; under is 6-4 in his last ten.
Guthrie is 1-2, 8.22 in his last four starts; four of his last five went over.
Royals won their last seven games with the Angels; three of last four went over the total. KC won five of its last six games overall; Halos lost four of last five overall (under 5-3 in last eight). Angels played 13 innings in Chicago late last night, couldn't have gotten much sleep last night.
Rangers @ Twins
Gonzalez is 0-3, 10.13 in his last three starts, last of which was July 3; five of his seven starts stayed under.
Santana is 0-3, 12.21 in his last three starts.
Texas lost last three games vs Minnesota; six of last eight stayed under the total. Rangers lost four of last five games. Twins are 3-2 in last five games; six of their last seven went over the total.
Win-loss records this year for team with this starting pitcher:
Col-NY-- Butler 6-9; Syndergaard 8-8
Mil-Chi-- Cravy 0-3; Lester 12-10
Pitt-StL-- Liriano 11-10; Lynn 13-8
Cin-LA-- Sampson 1-1; Latos 7-11, 1-1
Wsh-SF-- Strasburg 13-10; Vogelsong 9-8
A's-Tor--Gray 15-8; Buehrle 13-9
NY-Clev-- Eovaldi 14-8; Bauer 10-12
LA-KC-- Richards 12-9; Guthrie 13-8
Tex-Min-- Gonzalez 3-4; Santana 3-4
Times this starting pitcher allowed a run in first inning:
Col-NY-- Butler 8-16; Syndergaard 5-16
Mil-Chi-- Cravy 0-3; Lester 7-23
Pitt-StL-- Liriano 3-22; Lynn 7-21
Cin-LA-- Sampson 1-2; Latos 7-18
Wsh-SF-- Strasburg 4-23; Vogelsong 4-17
A's-Tor--Gray 4-23; Buehrle 12-22
NY-Clev-- Eovaldi 8-22; Bauer 4-22
LA-KC-- Richards 3-21; Guthrie 4-21
Tex-Min-- Gonzalez 1-7; Santana 1-7
Armadillosports.com
MLB Betting News and Notes
By Steve Merril
Rockies @ Mets -- Noah Syndergaard is 6-1 with a 1.57 ERA and 0.80 WHIP in eight home starts for New York this season. The Rockies have never faced the rookie righty, and that’s an advantage for Syndergaard. Colorado has managed just 14 hits in this series so far, and they are expected to struggle once again. The Rockies’ Eddie Butler has lost his last three starts while allowing 14 runs and 20 hits over his last 15 innings of work. But the Mets’ offense has struggled recently, so there’s a chance Butler pitches much better in this game. I lean Under 7 (-115) in this game on Thursday afternoon.
Reds @ Dodgers -- Keyvius Sampson has pitched well for the Reds so far this season. He is coming off a road win in Arizona after holding the Diamondbacks to just 1 run and four hits in six innings of work. If Cincinnati’s bullpen was better, I would have strongly considered taking the underdog Reds in this game. Mat Latos hasn’t pitched well for the Dodgers, and he is coming into this game off a losing effort in Pittsburgh. Latos pitched for Cincinnati over the last few years, so the Reds are quite familiar with his repertoire which makes him at a disadvantage in this game. The value is on the Reds (+170), or if you prefer, +1.5 runs (-140 or less).
Rangers @ Twins -- Chi Chi Gonzalez is back in the Majors as he makes a spot start for the Rangers in place of Cole Hamels. Gonzalez only won two of his five Triple-A starts since being sent down in July. The righty was 2-4 with a 3.74 ERA in seven starts for Texas earlier this season. His issue was a lack of strikeouts as he had just 15 in 43.1 innings of work. Minnesota’s Ervin Santana gave up 8 runs and 10 hits in just over two innings pitched to the Indians in his last outing. Elvis Andrus (12-43), Shin-Soo Choo (5-14), Prince Fielder (6-16). and Mike Napoli (7-19) all have good numbers against Santana. No line posted as of yet, but I’ll lean Over the total at 9 or less.
Thursday Scouting Edge
By Coach Fletcher
Colorado Rockies at New York Mets
It’s probably a good thing for the Mets that Noah Syndergaard goes to the mound at Citi Field tomorrow. Syndergaard and the Mets are a huge favorite over the 47-64 Rockies today and for a good reason. Syndergaard might have been a fan of Charles Dickens because this year has been a tale of two seasons for him. Going 6-1 with a 1.57 era in 8 home starts makes Syndergaard a top tier pitcher. But on the road it’s a different story. On the road he is 0-5 with a 5.01 era in 8 starts. You might want to remember that next time he goes to the bump on the road. The Mets opened at -240 for this one.
Oakland Athletics at Toronto Blue Jays
The Blue Jays are on a mission. The target is the lead in the AL East. They swept the Yankees to show their stuff and have rattled off 10 straight wins. The question today is can Sonny Gray put a halt to the Jays quest? Gray is 12-4 with a 2.06 era and a 0.96 whip. His road era is an amazing 1.64 and he is 8-1 as a visitor. In his last 3 starts Gray’s era is just 0.72. With those credentials he is obviously a threat to the Jays hot streak. He’s only given up 2 runs in his last 25 innings. In doing so he shut down the first place Astros ( 1 run, 6 hits) and the 1st place Dodgers (0 earned, 7 hits). Gray has pitched against the Jays 1 time a year in each of the last 3 years for an era of 2.25. The A’s are 2-1 in those trio of games. In his start this year he went 7 innings and gave up 2 runs. The Jays opened at -145.
Texas Rangers at Minnesota Twins
To say that Ervin Santana has been inconsistent this season is an understatement. Maybe wildly inconsistent makes more sense. Since returning from an 80 game suspension, we have seen both sides of Santana’s game. Overall he is 2-3 with a 5.40 era in 7 starts. In his first start after his suspension he went 8 innings against the Royals and gave up 2 runs on 3 hits. In his next start the Tigers pulverized Santana for 6 runs on 8 hits in just 4 innings. Then in back to back performances he shut out Oakland and the Angels over 15 2/3 innings. And you can guess the rest. In 2 of his last 3 starts the Pirates and the Indians knocked Santana around for 16 runs in 8 innings, 14 of which were earned. In case you were wondering, Ervin’s era at home is 11.17 and his last 3 combined yield an era of 10.93. Santana and the Twins opened at -130 but most books did not post an early opening line.
Milwaukee Brewers at Chicago Cubs
After the Phillies swept the Cubs at home in late July, the Cubbies were left for dead – road kill to be sure. So what did they do? They’ve won 13 of their last 15 games. They will send one of their best, Jon Lester, (and most expensive) hurlers to the mound today to face the 48-66 Brewers. Little known Tyler Cravy will toss for the Brew Crew. Cravy is 0-3 with a 5.00 era in 3 starts. His 3 starts have been a month apart and now he’s back replacing Kyle Lohse in the rotation. Cravy’s 1st start on June 2 was his best start. He went 7 innings against the Cardinals in St. Louis and gave up 1 run on 4 hits. His last 2 starts he faced the Braves and the Cardinals again with lesser results at home. Today he goes back on the road to meet the Cubs. In this day and time of huge numbers, the Cubs opened -220.
Reds, Dodgers clash
By Sportsbook.ag
CINCINNATI REDS (50-62) at LOS ANGELES DODGERS (64-50)
Sportsbook.ag Line: Los Angeles -190, Cincinnati +180, Total: 7
The Cincinnati Reds head north from San Diego to start a four-game set against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday night.
The season is lost for this once potent Reds group as they sit 22.5 games out of first place and have lost seven of their last 10 games. In that time, the offense has been dreadful, scoring a putrid 2.7 runs per game and were shut out on three occasions.
They had lost the first two games of this California road trip against the Padres, but found their stroke on Wednesday afternoon with a nice 7-3 victory in which they backed a solid start (6 IP, 3 ER, 3 H, 8 K) by Raisel Iglesias. With three hits in the game, 1B Joey Votto (.304) continued a nice season and is in the top-10 amongst NL batters in batting average, home runs, runs, walks and OPS.
The Dodgers lead the NL West despite losing four of their last four games and are just 13-11 since the All-Star break. They lost four straight contests, first being swept by the Pirates on the road and then the first against Washington, but rebounded nicely with consecutive victories in which they did not allow a run over the past two days.
Grienke and Kershaw shutdown the Nationals’ offense and they won the series in the rubber match Wednesday with the aforementioned Kershaw going eight scoreless innings in a 3-0 game. OF Andre Ethier (.286) does not play every day, but in his nine games this month leads the team with five extra-base hits and 21 total bases.
The pitching matchup for the opening game of this series will feature RHP Keyvius Sampson (1-1, 3.00 ERA) for Cincinnati and RHP Mat Latos (4-8, 4.67 ERA) of the host team. It has been a very rough season on the road for the Reds as they’ve compiled a record of 22-36 (.379) in away games as Los Angeles loves playing at home as evidenced by its 39-19 (.672) mark in front of its fans.
These two clubs have been very evenly matched over the past three seasons, splitting 14 games (7-7) with the Dodgers doing well (5-2) in their time at home during that stretch.
Trends show that L.A. is a mere 24-35 (.407) against NL Central opponents in the last two years as Cincinnati is a meager 48-68 (.414) in the second half the year in the last two seasons.
The injury report continues to have SS Zack Cozart (Knee) and C Devin Mesoraco (Hip) out for the season on the Reds’ side of the ball while 2B Howie Kendrick (Hamstring) and 3B Justin Turner (Thigh) are on the DL for Los Angeles.
Sampson came to the Reds in 2015 after a rough couple of seasons in the high minors over the course of the 2013 and 2014 campaigns. After a strong start in double-A with his new team, the righty really struggled over eight games (7 starts) at triple-A with a 5.08 ERA, as he walked 5.1 batters per nine innings of work. Still, as the team moves forward with the future, they called him up to join the rotation and he has responded quite well thus far in three games (2 starts). In those 12 innings he has a 12:4 K/BB ratio and has allowed a mere seven hits.
He has never seen any of these Dodgers hitters at this level, but will need to watch out for OF Andre Ethier who has hit .355 with two homers and five RBIs over 31 August at-bats and is hitting righties at a .297 clip with all 12 of his long balls on the year. On the other hand, OFs Joc Pederson and Yasiel Puig have collectively gone 9-for-57 (.158) with 18 strikeouts in this month.
The Cincinnati bullpen has not done too well, going 15-22 with a 3.90 ERA (1.32 WHIP) and are 25-for-38 (66%) in save attempts. Aroldis Chapman (1.66 ERA, 24 saves) has just one of those blown saves and is striking out 16.3 batters per nine innings while giving up a mere single homer in 48.2 innings of work (0.18 HR/9).
Latos joined the Dodgers at the trade deadline as L.A. was attempting to bolster their rotation with a former “ace,” but have not seen any positive returns just yet. Before coming to the team, he had pitched to a 4.48 ERA in a pitcher’s park out in Miami, and while he was striking out batters at a clip (8.1 K/9) better than any year since 2011, he was struggling with leaving only 65.1% of runners on base.
In his first outing for the Dodgers, Latos was solid with a mere run allowed on four hits over six innings, but struck just one batter out, and then was hit hard (6 ER, 7 H) in four innings against the Pirates; failing to record a strikeout in the process. He’s had the opportunity of facing the Reds, his former team, three times and is 1-1 (1-2 team record) with a 2.70 ERA (0.65 WHIP) but has not seen them since being a member of the Padres in 2011. Latos hasn’t seen much of the Cincinnati batters, but has had trouble with OF Marlon Byrd (3-for-9, 3 BB) in limited at-bats as 1B Joey Votto and 2B Brandon Phillips are a combined 2-for-14 (.143) in the matchup.
Overall the Los Angeles relievers have not been too impressive, going 23-21 with a 4.11 ERA (1.31 WHIP) and have successfully been able to save 30-of-47 (64%) games. Kenley Jansen (2.67 ERA, 22 saves) is striking out a career-high 16.3 batters per nine, but has already allowed five of his 19 hits to leave the park (1.48 HR/9) in his 30.1 frames.