MLB Baseball
2012-05-14 - Cincinnati Reds at Atlanta Braves
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
United States: Major League Baseball
Monday 14 May 2012 - First Pitch 7:10pm ET
12:10am (British Standard Time)
Preview
The Atlanta Braves (22-13) made a major impact in the Major Leagues with a sweep on the St Louis Cardinals on the road in their last series. They now should feel really confident that they can at continue their hot form against the Cincinnati Reds (17-16) who took the last game of a three game series against the Washington Nationals.
Atlanta's bats have been hammering runs through in their last 9 games, all on the road, averaging 6.2 runs per contest in those games while they are averaging 0.286 at the plate.
Randall Delgado will go to the mound and will look to improve his 2-3 record and a 4.54 ERA, but he has been pitching well recently and could do with some run support. Delgado is 0-2 with a 3.50 ERA in his last three starts for the Braves but he has only been given a total of 2 runs from the batting line up in those games.
The pitcher has also received the full backing of Fredi Gonzalez, the manager of the Braves, and it seems a matter of time before he is back in the win column if Atlanta can continue their hot streak.
Cincinnati could thank Joey Votto for the fact they managed to win their last game with the Nationals as he scored three Home Runs in the game including a Grand Slam in the bottom of the 9th inning that saw the Reds win the game 9-6.
He was paid to be the heart of this batting line up and it seems that is the case with the Reds really struggling to score runs when Votto is not batting well.
The Reds may need him up to form as they send Homer Bailey to the mound to improve his 1-3 record this year and his 4.93 ERA. Bailey really struggled in his last start when he didn't even complete the 4th inning as he gave up 6 runs, walked 3 batter and hit another in a loss to the Milwaukee Brewers.
Bailey received the decision in his only start against the Atlanta Braves as he allowed just 2 runs from 6 innings pitched in a Reds win.
Head to Head
Cincinnati have won the last 2 games in the series, although they have not met since July last year.
Atlanta have won 4 of their last 5 games at home in the series with the Reds.
Atlanta are 8-5 at home this season, Cincinnati are 8-8 on the road.
Prediction
I have to back the Atlanta Braves to continue their hot streak at the plate and I am going to take them win this game by a couple of runs at the least.
Their batting line up is definitely the warmer of the two teams and I think they have the pitching edge in the contest. Homer Bailey has really struggled in recent starts for Cincinnati, while Randall Delgado has limited teams to runs in his most recent starts.
If Delgado is pitching as good as he has been in his recent three starts, I expect Atlanta will at least give him some run support on this occasion and that could make the 2.50 on them clearing the run line look a little high.
The Pick :
Atlanta Braves 7-3 Cincinnati Reds
