Inside the Chalk

The Pittsburgh Pirates are starting to click on every cylinder. The Bucs just took 2 out of 3 from the best in the Majors, the Philadelphia Phillies, and have won 6 of their last 7. Tonight, they will open a 3-game set with the St. Louis Cardinals at PNC Park. With a double-header Saturday, St. Louis has played 3 games in 2 days so fatigue could be an issue for the Red Birds tonight. St. Louis is expected to hand the ball to Andre Pallante who is 4-4 with a 4.21 ERA, a 1.38 WHIP, and the Cardinals are just 1-5 in his last 6 starts as the underdog. The Pirates are expected to counter with Mitch Keller. He is 10-5-with a 3.46 ERA and a 1.25 WHIP. Advantage Pittsburgh.
TONIGHT’S PICK: PITTSBURGH PIRATES

Whenever the New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays meet, they always trade punches and this 4-game set in the Bronx is no different. New York won the first game, 6-1, and then yesterday they ran into Tampa’s great young talent, Taj Bradley, and were embarrassed, 9-1, in front of the home crowd. Today at the Stadium it’s the Yankees turn to strike, and they will call on Marcus Stroman to get the job done. Stroman has been roughed up of late but is still 7-4 with a 3.51 ERA, a 1.32 WHIP, and is due for a dominant outing. The Rays are expected to counter with Shane Baz who is 0-1 with a 5.23 ERA and a 1.45 WHIP. Baz had better be in the zone or the Bronx Bombers will light him up. Despite last night’s loss, the Yankees are still 26-20 at the Stadium and after a major beating they usually bounce back.
TODAY’S PICK: NEW YORK YANKEES

The New York Mets will look to snap their 2-game skid when they play the second game of their 4-game set with the Miami Marlins today at LoanDepot Park. New York lost the first one last night, 4-6, but I expect they bounce back today. The 49-47 Mets are a good road team, with a record of 23-21, and are expected to have Luis Severino tapping the rubber. The Ex-Yankee is 6-3 with a 3.78 ERA, a 1.19 WHIP, and New York is 6-1 in his last 7 starts against a team with a losing record. Pete Alonso and company, who are averaging just shy of 5 runs per game, should be able to get to the Marlins expected starter, Roddery Muñoz. He is just 1-4 on the season with an elevated ERA of 5.47 and a 1.41 WHIP. If the Mets want to make a push in the NL East, they have to take care of bottom feeders like the Marlins who are 34-63 overall and 19-31 in South Florida.
TODAY’S PICK: NEW YORK METS

The New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays will open a 3-game set tonight in the Bronx. The Yankees lost the last series with the Rays in St. Pete but now the venue switches to River Ave. The Yankees are 25-19 at the Stadium and will have their ace on the hill, Gerrit Cole. After a couple of rocky starts since returning from injury, Cole Train is back to his Cy Young form. In his last outing against the Orioles in Baltimore, he pitched 6 innings, yielding just 5 hits, 1 run, and the Bombers went on to a 4-1 victory. The Rays, who are 21-21 on the road, will have Zach Eflin on the hill and he has been in the zone. Over his last 3 starts, Eflin in 2-1 with a 3.00 ERA and an excellent WHIP of 1.00. However, I still like the Yankees in this one. New York has the best hurler in the AL on the hill. They are averaging 5 runs per game, and have the edge over Tampa in batting average, hits, homers, run differential, and team ERA.
TONIGHT’S PICK: NEW YORK YANKEES

The San Diego Padres and the Atlanta Braves will wrap up their 3-game set this afternoon at Petco Park. The Padres and Braves split the first two games of the series. If San Diego wants to go into the break on a winning note, they had better bring their A-game to the field today because Atlanta will have Chris Sale on the hill. The Condor is back to his 2018 form with a record of 12-3, a 2.74 ERA, and a nasty WHIP of only 0.94. The Friars are expected to counter with Randy Vásquez, who is 2-4 with an ERA of 4.66 and a 1.60 WHIP, and in his career against the Braves, he is 0-2 with a 4.82 ERA. These teams are similar in many ways, but the difference maker today will be the southpaw, Sale, who has never lost in his career to San Diego. Chris Sale last faced the Padres on May 20th, pitching 7 shutout innings and the Braves went on to a 3-0 win.
TODAY’S PICK: ATLANTA BRAVES

The best team in baseball, the Philadelphia Phillies, looked out of sorts yesterday when they fell to the lowly Oakland Athletics at home, 6-2, but they will get back on track today in the middle game of their 3-game set. Two rookies will oppose each other with Tyler Phillips getting the nod for the Phillies and Mitch Spence for the A’s. Phillips’ only outing in the Bigs was against the Atlanta Braves and he was impressive, allowing just 1 run with 7 Ks in 4 innings of work. On the flip side, Spence is 5-5 with a 4.29 ERA, a 1.36 WHIP, and was lit up in his last turn against Baltimore, yielding 7 hits and 5 runs in a 6-3 loss. The Phillies are 36-15 at Citizens Bank Park and rarely lose two in a row.
TODAY’S PICK: PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES