MLB Baseball
2012-05-22 - Atlanta Braves at Cincinnati Reds
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
United States: Major League Baseball
Tuesday 22 May 2012 - First Pitch 7:10pm ET
12:10am (British Standard Time)
Preview
The Cincinnati Reds (22-19) took game 1 of this 4 game series against the Atlanta Braves (26-17), but this game figures to be a lot tougher for them as the Braves are sending one of their brightest pitchers to the mound.
Atlanta are actually second in the National League in terms of the number of runs they have scored, but that has been a problem for them in recent games and they have failed to score more than 2 runs in any of their last 3.
The Braves will look to get something going against Mat Latos who is 2-2 with a 4.63 ERA this season and someone who is struggling to get out of innings. He is averaging 18.2 pitches per innings and that ranks as the third highest in the National League, a fact which also means the bullpen has to produce for extended innings.
Latos gave up 3 runs in 5 innings pitched against the New York Mets in his last outing, but he did not factor into the decision as the Cincinnati Reds won the game 9-4. The pitcher is 2-2 against the Braves in five career starts and he has a 2.43 ERA in those games. However, his better performances have come in Atlanta rather than here at the Great American Ball Park.
Aroldis Chapman was being groomed into a closer for the Reds, but he could be missing tonight after being arrested yesterday and his status is unknown right now.
Atlanta will be hoping they can get to Latos tonight with their batting line up, but they will feel confident they will be in a position to win the game with Brandon Beachy on the mound looking to continue his bright start to 2012.
Beachy is 5-1 with a 1.33 ERA this season and he comes in having not given up a run in 9 innings pitched against the Miami Marlins. That was the third consecutive win Beachy has had, but he will want to improve on his only start against the Reds.
On that occasion, Cincinnati tagged the pitcher for 3 runs in 6 innings, but two of those runs went out of the ballpark.
Head to Head
The Cincinnati Reds lead the season series 2-1 after the win last night having split a two game set in Atlanta last week.
The Reds have won the last 3 and 5 of the last 6 against Atlanta at home, while Atlanta have won just 5 of their last 19 visits to this ballpark.
Cincinnati are 10-8 at home, Atlanta are 16-10 on the road this season.
Prediction
There looks like there is a definite pitching advantage to Atlanta in this game tonight and I like them to win this one with a couple of runs to spare.
The Braves are capable of putting up decent run totals and you have to think if they get to 4 runs, Brandon Beachy should be able to limit the Reds and help Atlanta win this one with room to spare.
Atlanta have not been great at the plate in their last three games, but they had been scoring runs for fun before that and the 2.45 looks a little big that they can win by at least 2 runs considering their ability at the plate coupled with the pitching advantage.
The Pick :
Cincinnati Reds 2-5 Atlanta Braves
