MLB Betting Picks May 21 – Atlanta Braves at San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants have one of the weakest offensive clubs in MLB and they didn’t put up much of a fight in the opener, collecting just two hits in a 4-1 setback to get the four-game series with the Atlanta Braves underway.
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The way the Giants are going Bruce Bochy might not make it to the end of the season. While the Giants are trying to avoid their second last-place finish in the NL West in the last three seasons, the Braves are in pursuit of another NL East title.
San Fran will send Shaun Anderson to the bump on Tuesday for his second Major League start while the Braves will counter with Julio Teheran, who has held opponents to a .123 batting average over his last three starts.
Atlanta Braves at San Francisco Giants
Date and Time: Tuesday, May 21, 2019, 9:45 p.m. ET
Location: Oracle Park, San Francisco, CA
Opening MLB Odds: Braves -130, Giants +110, O/U 7.5
Braves at Giants TV Coverage: ESPN
Odds Analysis
After sneaking up on the rest of the division last year, the Braves are the hunted as they attempt to defend their NL East title. It took awhile for them to figure things out, but they are on a nice run now having won eight of their last 10 games with a combination of pitching and hitting. And the duo has been prevalent in recent games against the Giants.
The Braves extended their winning streak over the Giants to four with Monday night’s 4-1 victory and they’ve limited San Francisco to one run in each of those matchups. All four games were played at Oracle Park and three of them ended with the same 4-1 outcome.
Scoring is a problem with the Giants as the production from their aging veterans continues to decrease. They are near the bottom in runs scored per game, batting average and home runs and they aren’t helped by their cavernous ballpark. The Giants have scored three runs or less in 25 games and haven’t topped that number in the last six meetings with the Braves.
Probable Pitchers
A tweak to his repertoire has Julio Teheran ( 3-4, 3.88 ERA ) in a groove. The veteran righty started using his breaking ball more extensively a few starts ago and success immediately followed. He’s vying for pitcher of the month honors after allowing just one earned over 17 innings of his three May starts. His lone win in that stretch came in his last start when he blanked the Cards on two hits over five innings, though the Braves won all three games.
Control has always been an issue for Teheran and his 26 free passes are the sixth-most in MLB. He’s actually given up fewer hits than walks over his last three starts. Due to his elevated pitch counts he’s pitched more than six innings just once in his 10 starts.
The Giants are giving a look to their top pitching prospect and Shaun Anderson ( 0-0, 3.60 ERA ) earned another start after surrendering just two hits and two earned runs across 5.0 innings of his MLB debut last week. He struck out five and walked three on 96 pitches taking a ND in a win over the Jays.
Anderson’s debut was memorable for another reason. He bagged a couple of hits in his two ABs, including a double. But the kid proved he can pitch by posting a 4.11 ERA in 35 innings of seven Triple-A starts. Atlanta has more pop than Toronto, so this figures to be a stiffer test for Anderson.
Key Stat
As mentioned above, scoring has been has been a chore for the Giants. Take out the games in Colorado since those come with an asterisk. And you know the thin air plays tricks when the Gigantes can plate 25 runs in two games at Coors Field. They did that earlier this month, but they’ve scored just 29 runs in nine games since then while getting blanked twice. The Giants played below the total in four of their last five games overall while cashing the under in five straight with the Bravos.
Bet Braves at Giants at BookMaker.eu
Teheran has been nearly unhittable over his last three starts and the Giants can’t hit. That’s a formula for success for the visitors. There’s a lot of pressure on Anderson to put up zeros and he’s capable, but he’s also facing a team that’s much better at the dish than Toronto, and that has me siding with the over. Freddie Freeman was on a recent homer binge and Ronald Acuna belted a pair on Monday. Keep an eye on Austin Riley, who’s been smoking hot since his recall giving the Braves another solid stick in the middle of the lineup.
MLB Score Prediction: Braves 6, Giants 4
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