Last night we almost saw 2 no hitters as each pitcher let up a hit in the 8th inning. Oakland really ruined their game as they were one of the teams to have the no hitter that long. The Yankees came back and won the game 3-2 and helped Sabathia pick up the win after striking out nine.
Strasburg has a tremendous game as he struck at 15 against the Padres. The Padres have now been struck out 13 or more 3 times this season.
We have a ton of afternoon games and I’m giving you my lineup, make sure you get your teams in.
Low-Scoring Plays
Chicago Cubs @ L.A. Dodgers-This game looks to be the pitching matchup of the day with Jon Lester vs. Clayton Kershaw. The Cubs have not scored a lot of runs lately, Kris Byant is leading the Cubs in batting average at .287 with 11 home runs. Kershaw is almost untouchable at home and should dominate this game. Jon Lester is having an average season at 3-2 with an ERA above 3. Turner is having a strong year for the Dodgers and will be the difference in this one. Kershaw is too good not to have a great game against the struggling Cubs.
Targets: Kershaw, Turner
Oakland Athletics @ New York Yankees-Andrew Triggs takes the mound for the Athletics who were close a no hitter last night. Triggs is a pitcher that I always like to play, as he averages 16.8 points per game. The Yankees have been having an unreal season so far, at least to the standards of what everyone expected. I think they will start to come back down to earth now and settle behind Boston and Baltimore in the standings. Oakland is a home run hitting team which will catch up with Pineada and ultimately make him lose this game. Triggs is a cheaper option for a solid pitcher that will help you subsidize the price of Kershaw.
Targets; Triggs, Lowrie, Davis
Atlanta Braves @ San Francisco Giants- R.A. Dickey takes the mound for the Braves. Usually I beat up on Dickey and always put him in the high scoring games. However he is going up against one of the worst offenses in baseball. Johnny Cueto is pitching for the Giants who is having a solid year. In my opinion he is one of the top pitchers in the game still. The Braves aren’t a strong team so Cueto should win this one.
Targets: Cueto, Posey
High-Scoring Plays
New York Mets @ Pittsburgh Pirates- This is the prime time game tonight as its the only night game of the day. The lights will be bright and Matt Harvey will choke again. Harvey has limited experience pitching against the Pirates. Andrew McCutchen is batting .500 off of Harvey and Josh Harrison is hitting .667 off of him. Harrison should be a play in your line up with the success this year and against Harvey it’s a great recipe. On the other side Tyler Glasnow pitches for the Pirates. The Mets should be able to score runs off of him and steal bases at will. I like the Pirates to win this one at home scoring 7 plus runs.
Targets: McCutchen, Harrison
Seattle Mariners @ Boston Red Sox- I don’t love this game to be extremely high scoring however compared to the other games I think it will be. Boston has been hot, and Seattle has been awful. I like Boston to win another one here with Porcello on the mound. The Red Sox got a complete game last night from Johnson so their bullpen will be rested to keep the Mariners under a wrap. Christian Bergman is pitching for the Mariners who has an ERA above 6. Boston is going to have to lose at some point and Im afraid they might not show up for this game, however the run shouldn’t end here.
Targets: Bennintendi, Bradley Jr, Bogaerts
My lineup
SP-Kershaw-LAD
SP-Triggs-OAK
C-Avila-CWS
1B-Vargas-MIN
2B-Schoop-BAL
3B-Longoria-TB
SS-Bogaerts-BOS
OF-Heyward-CHC
OF-Gammel-SEA
OF-Pham-STL
Check out our MLB Breakdown Spreadsheet and our newly-released Pitcher Breakdown Spreadsheet (picks are 13-10-2 using this spreadsheet over the last seven days) where you can compare key statistics and numbers for today’s games.