MLB Betting Free Picks: Philadelphia @ Cincinnati

Added on Jun 28, 2010 by Jack Thurman in

MLB

Sportsbooks will be back to regular league play on Monday, and we’ll look at a baseball betting position in a National League game between the Cincinnati Reds and Philadelphia Phillies. Reds are in a fight for the NL Central lead with the St. Louis Cardinals, while Philadelphia is trying to climb back into the NL East race.

Philadelphia Phillies (Kendrick) at Cincinnati Reds (Cueto)
June 28, 4:10 PM Pacific

The Reds are still plugging away and hold a 1/2 game lead over the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Central race. They’ve posted a solid 25-18 +5.4 unit record at home this year, and took two of three from the Cleveland Indians over the weekend. The Phillies went through a tough stretch and fell well off the pace in the NL East, but have won 7 of 10 and are now just 2.5 games behind division leading Atlanta. Philadelphia took 2 of 3 from Toronto over the weekend in a series that was relocated to the Phillies’ home field due to security concerns surrounding the G-20 economic summit.

Johnny Cueto gets the start for Cincinnati and he’s become a favorite pitcher of baseball betting enthusiasts–he doesn’t put up overwhelming numbers but he turns in solid innings and the Reds have won 10 of his 15 starts this season. The Phillies will counter with Kyle Kendrick who also checks in with relatively forgettable numbers. He’s got a 4.83 ERA overall but has a 3.35 mark on the road. Cueto is usually a guy we like to play on, but we’ll go against him here. One concern is that he’s only faced the Phillies twice in his career and was pounded both times allowing 13 earned runs in 7.7 innings–both Reds’ losses. Kendrick’s numbers against Cincinnati are spectacularly mediocre, but the important thing is that Philadelphia has won all three of his career starts against the Reds. Philadelphia has won 10 of the last 15 head to head meetings, and we like the way they’ve been playing lately.

Bet Philadelphia (Kendrick) +123 over Cincinnati (Cueto)