CINCINNATI REDS @ WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Baseball : North America : MLB
Monday, August 15th, 2011, 7:05PM US
(12:05AM GMT)

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PREVIEW

Cincinnati were on a nice little run there before getting beaten by San Diego on Sunday. They've had a day off yesterday and will look to get back on track tonight as they take on the Washington Nationals.

Cincinnati start Mike Leake tonight. The righty is 10-7 with a 3.84ERA and actually has a 3.09ERA in his last 14 starts, having been a bit patchy in his first half dozen starts. Leake comes in having pitched excellently in his last 5 and I feel confident he can get his team back in the W column tonight.

In head-to-head, Leake is 2-0 against Washington with a phenomenal 0.75ERA.

Washington also had yesterday off, in fact that had Sunday off too. The Nationals will send out Chien-Ming Wang, who has started just 3 games this season and has a 1-2 mark and a 3.60ERA to show for it. Wang gave up just 1 hit in his last outing, pitching 6 scoreless innings against the Chicago Cubs.

The one stat that stood out for me was that over his 3 starts, batter are hitting 2.86 against Wang.

TEAM STATS

Cincinnati Reds
Overall 59-62, Streak L1

Washington Nationals
Overall 57-62, Streak L1

BETTING VERDICT

The price on Cincy is good and that is enough for me to suggest a value bet on the visitors, who still have not given up hope in their division. The Reds have scored the 2nd highest amount of runs in the NL. They'll get some tonight against the Nationals.

The Pick :

Cincinnati Reds to win

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Take the Cincinnati Reds to win @ 1.83 (Pinnacle)