Wednesday’s MLB slate features all 30 teams in action, with seven first pitches before 2:30 pm ET. The earliest games at 12:10 pm ET include the top two teams in the majors facing one another, with the Rays hosting the Orioles after dropping the series opener and two other teams in playoff contention after 70+ games, as the Blue Jays travel to Miami to play the Marlins.
Baltimore is 4-1 in Tyler Wells’ last five starts, while Tampa’s Taj Bradley has not finished the fifth inning in his previous two outings against Texas and Oakland.
Other significant matchups around the league include the NL West-leading Diamondbacks facing the home Milwaukee Brewers and the battle of Los Angeles between the Dodgers and Angels.
Arizona has risen to the top of their competitive division by winning 19 of their last 30 games, and the Brew Crew are a half-game out of the division lead in the Central. Thanks to a late rally, Milwaukee took Game 1 yesterday 7-5.
In Anaheim, the Angels host the Dodgers for the second of a two-game stand after getting blanked by Clayton Kershaw on Tuesday. Shohei Ohtani leads the league in home runs, and the Angels have their highest win percentage through the first 75 games of a season since 2014.
Our baseball props last week finished 2-4-1, so we’re ready to correct that with today’s Underdog picks.
Randy Arozarena UNDER 1.5 Hits, Runs, RBIs
Arozarena has struggled against Orioles’ pitching in 2023, managing a single, two walks, and six strikeouts in 14 plate appearances. He’s 2-for-12 career against Wells with no extra-base hits and three strikeouts.
The Rays’ home run leader has better power numbers against left-handers this season, hitting five of his 13 home runs in 60 plate appearances when facing a southpaw.
It’ll be hard to keep him off the base paths for a full game, but we like Wells and company to prevent him from having an outsized impact on the outcome of this matchup.
Zac Gallen OVER 6.5 Strikeouts
The Milkman hasn’t posted more than seven strikeouts in a game since April, deflating his total for today’s matchup to below seven against an opponent that struggles to avoid punchouts.
Milwaukee strikes out at the third-highest rate in baseball, and nine of their ten players with 100 or more plate appearances have a strikeout rate above 20% this season.
Gallen has gone six or more innings in three of his last four starts, and we project him to reach seven Ks this afternoon against the Brewers.
Justin Turner OVER 0.5 Singles
Turner has an OPS of .981 in June and has hit safely in 13 of 17 games this month. He’s been mashing hits for extra bases with regularity, contributing to his slugging percentage rising above .450, but he has also mixed in a single in seven of his last ten games.
The Sox beat up on Pablo Lopez and Bailey Ober in the first two contests of this four-game series and now face a resurgent Sonny Gray boasting the fourth-best ERA in the bigs.
Turner is 5-for-11 lifetime against Gray, and we like him to slap at least one single in Boston’s bid to extend their current win streak to seven games.
