MLB Baseball Betting Free Picks: Cincinnati Reds at San Francisco Giants

Added on Aug 23, 2010 by Jack Thurman in

MLB

Baseball betting action on Monday in the National League as the Cincinnati Reds head to San Francisco for an important series against the Giants. The Reds have been in good form throughout the month of August and have opened up a 3.5 game lead over the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Central. San Francisco, meanwhile, has been struggling to keep pace with the NL West leading San Diego Padres and have dropped 6 games off the division lead.

Cincinnati Reds (Volquez) at San Francisco Giants (Cain)
August 23, 2010—7:15 PM Pacific

The Cincinnati Reds have won 8 of their last 10 games and now bring the National League’s top offense to AT&T Park for a three game set against the Giants. Cincinnati boasts a .272 team batting average, has scored an NL best 615 runs (26 more than second place Milwaukee) and averages 4.95 runs per game. San Francisco has a solid pitching staff, of course, and ranks #4 in the National League with a 3.59 team ERA.

Matt Cain will get the start for the Giants tonight and has been very good at home this season with a 2.62 ERA. San Francisco has won 8 of his 12 starts at AT&T Park, but he’s not been particularly sharp in his recent outings with a 0-2 record and a 4.24 ERA. Edison Volquez gets the assignment for Cincinnati and despite a less than impressive 4.96 ERA the Reds have won 6 of his 7 starts. That’s the benefit of working behind the best offense in the league.

The teams have split 4 games this year, but Cincinnati has got the better of San Francisco in the past three years with a 10-6 record (+5.5 units) including a 4-2 mark in the Giants’ home yard. At this point, we can’t see any reason to get off of the sizzling Reds who are 36-26 +12.4 units on the road and 50-35 +14.6 units against right handed pitching.

Bet Cincinnati (Volquez) +120 over San Francisco (Cain)