ST. LOUIS CARDINALS @ PITTSBURGH PIRATES
Paul Skenes is on the mound today for the Pirates for game 2 of their series against the visiting Cardinals. There’s no pitcher more hyped in the league right now than Skenes and the Pirates will need another strong outing from him to even the series after losing their game last night 2-1. The line today on Paul Skenes strikeouts is currently sitting neutral among most sports books at 7.5. He has thrown for 8 or more strikeouts in 7 out of his last 8 starts going back to May 29th. In one previous appearance against the Cardinals back on June 11th in St. Louis he threw for 8 strikeouts. Look for Skenes to hit the over on his strikeouts again today pitching at home. This is currently boosted to +150 on FanDuel if you’re looking to take the individual prop bet straight up.
The pick: Paul Skenes OVER 7.5 Strikeouts
CHICAGO WHITE SOX @ TEXAS RANGERS
The White Sox will have their ace Garret Crochet starting while the Rangers will be going with Jon Gray as their starting pitcher. With Crochet being the talk of the MLB trade deadline the White Sox are eager to showcase his talent. Although Crochet is always a threat to get a lot of strike outs (currently 2nd in MLB) what he actually does better than any other pitcher in the league is prevent runs in the first inning. In 20 starting appearances this year Crochet has only ever given up a run in the first inning ONCE which happened back on April 13th against the Reds. He has not given up a single run in the first inning since then and is currently on a 16 game NRFI (no run first inning) streak. On the other side Jon Gray does not have nearly as impeccable of a record with no run first innings as Crochet but he’s on a 2 game NRFI streak and he’ll be facing White Sox batters who are among the league’s worst scoring teams in the first inning. Out of 102 games played so far the White Sox have only ever scored a run in the first inning in 38 games. Look for a no run first inning in this matchup.
The Pick: 1st Inning UNDER 0.5 Runs