The Florida Marlins arrive in Cincinnati Friday to play a weekend series with the Reds at Great American Ballpark in a battle of two second place teams, each within a game of leading their divisions. However, the team to lose this series could also fall further behind in the standings. Cincinnati's listed as -135 series favorites on the BetUS.com MLB Odds board while Marlins backers are getting +105 odds.
For Game-1 tonight (7:10 pm ET), the Reds look to left-hander Travis Wood as starting pitcher while right-hander Javier Vazquez gets the call for the Marlins. With Wood the starter, Cincinnati's giving -150 odds as favorites with a posted 9-run total. Marlins backers are getting +130 odds to get a win as underdogs.
The Reds picked up a 5-3 win in Woods last start on Saturday but he was not credited with the win in spite of a quality outing. In the game Woods pitched 6 1/3 frames, giving up three runs on eight hits with one walk. Through five starts this season, Woods is 1-2 with a 5.40 ERA.
The veteran Vazquez was credited with the loss on Saturday after going six innings and giving up six runs, all earned, on four hits. Control problems were an issue as he issued five walks against the Rockies. Vazquez is 1-2 through four starts with a 6.52 ERA.
Florida dropped a 5-4 game to the Dodgers as -130 odds on Wednesday dropping their short hold on the NL East lead. The 9-runs to cross the plate sent the game score OVER the posted 7 1/2-run total.
Last time out for the Reds, they were 7-6 winners as they battled the Brewers on the road. Moneyline bettors who got the Reds at +135 were rewarded, while the 13 combined runs moved the game OVER for totals bettors.
Both Wood and Vazquez have struggled keeping runners from crossing the plate, so based on that, my daily MLB Predictions call on this one is OVER 9.
