MLB Baseball
2013-06-17 - Pittsburgh Pirates at Cincinnati Reds
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
United States: MLB Baseball
Monday 17 June 2013 - First Pitch 7:10pm
12:10am (British Time)
Preview
The National League Central is perhaps the most competitive Division in the Major Leagues and two of the leading three contenders will begin a four game series at Great American Ball Park. The Cincinnati Reds (42-28) and the Pittsburgh Pirates (41-28) will both be looking to close the gap to the St Louis Cardinals who are leading the NL Central.
Cincinnati are 5-2 in their last 7 games after taking another win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday and they will send Mike Leake to the mound to continue his recent success.
Leake is 6-3 with a 2.76 ERA this season, but he has been even more impressive in recent starts for the Reds. In the last six starts Leake has made, he has gone 4-1 with a 1.13 ERA and he has given up just 5 earned runs from the last 40 innings he has pitched.
The pitcher did hold Pittsburgh scoreless over 6 innings earlier this month, but his first start against the Pirates was a lot more difficult for him. Leake gave up 5 runs in 6 innings pitched against the Pirates in April in the other start against them.
Like Cincinnati, Pittsburgh have been in decent form and have gone 4-2 in their last 6 games. They too will be sending a pitcher in decent form to the mound as they give the ball to Francisco Liriano. The pitcher is 5-2 with a 2.36 ERA this seaso, but he is coming off a start where he gave up 4 runs in 6 innings pitched against the San Francisco Giants.
That was only the second time in his last seven starts that Liriano has given up more than one run and he only allowed the solitary run against Cincinnati earlier this month in the 2-0 loss for the Pirates when opposing Mike Leake.
Head to Head
Pittsburgh are leading the season series 4-2, although all of those games have been played in their own ballpark.
However, the Pirates are just 2-6 in their last 8 games played at Cincinnati.
Prediction
This shouldn't be a high-scoring game as both pitchers have been performing well of late, but I think Cincinnati will find a way to open the series with a win.
The Pick :
Cincinnati Reds 2-1 Pittsburgh Pirates
BEST BETTING TIP :
I'll back the Cincinnati Reds @ 1.90
