Another week in the books, while another week arrives to make some money. Last week was successful with a 5-4 record across the week and going 2-1 to close it out strong. Josh Naylor was so close to hitting him over, but he couldn't break through, unfortunately.
Today we have some intriguing matchups that I might want to take a closer look at. Hopefully, the perfect record can be obtained, but the name of the game is to make money over the long haul. Here are the top three plays of the day to bring home the coins.
Yusei Kikuchi Over 17.5 Outs (-140)
The Boston Red Sox had a wonderful week that just passed. They won two of three games against the best team in the National League, the Philadelphia Phillies, but followed that up with an even better performance by beating their arch-rival New York Yankees two out of three times. The latter series culminated in a big-time beatdown last night on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball where they generated 9 stolen bases. However, I want to fade this Red Sox team today.
After that big win last night, the Red Sox had to fly out of the country to Canada to face the Blue Jays. Those Red Sox batters might be a little gassed, whereas the Blue Jays played in Toronto yesterday and got to relax at home. I think this leads to Yusei Kikuchi pitching a great game tonight.
Kikuchi has been solid thus far with a few gems, but also a few duds. I want to tackle his pitching outs today with the confidence I have in the Red Sox taking a step back for at least today. Furthermore, Kikuchi tends to extend his outings at home rather than on the road. He has had an equal amount of starts at both home and on the road but has pitched 9.1 more innings at home.
I think the Red Sox bats get a little cold and Kikuchi cruises to six innings.
Cristopher Sanchez Under 2.5 Earned Runs Allowed (-130)
The Philadelphia Phillies are one of the best teams this season so far and are real contenders to win a World Series for the first time since 2008. However, the past week has been a little bit of a speed bump, as they went 2-4 after a trip to London to play the New York Mets.
That London trip may have hurt the pitching more than anything. With the days off before and after the trip overseas, some of the starters in the Phillies rotation had to lose their usual routines. Pitchers are creatures of habit and can easily be thrown off with small tweaks to their procedure. Cristopher Sanchez might have been one of the victims of this situation.
Sanchez is having a phenomenal season, but his last outing against the Red Sox was not up to par. He allowed 7 hits with 4 earned runs and only pitched 4 innings, as he was just able to get outs. This came off an eight-day layoff between that Red Sox start and his last start against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Now Sanchez is back to his usual five days and faces a San Diego Padres team that is in the bottom 10 of the league in OPS and AVG versus left-handed pitchers. I can see Sanchez pitching a solid game and only allows one run.
Freddie Freeman Over 2.5 Hits + Runs + RBIs (-140)
I know this might be a little bit of a wild prop to choose from, but there is overwhelming logic behind it. Freddie Freeman started the year off on a slow start but has more than just picked it up offensively. In the month of June, Freeman is hitting .360 with an OPS of 1.170. The man is a hitting machine at the moment and the Dodgers will need even more from him after Mookie Betts went down with a fractured hand.
You can also look at the matchup and it's two factors. One factor is the ballpark he will be playing in, which is Coors Field. We all know how notorious Coors Field is for how easy balls are hit there. Freeman is no exception to that notion. He is hitting .299 with an OPS of .937 in 223 plate appearances there.
Then there is the pitching matchup. Cal Quantrill is taking the bump for the Rockies tonight and he is having a good season in all honesty. However, he does not like to face Freeman. In 12 at-bats, Freeman has 6 hits and 2 walks against him. All the world needs is for Freeman to get a few hits and knock in a run and this cashes out.
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