Reds vs. Dodgers Betting Line – August 13
Carrie Stroup here with your Reds vs. Dodgers betting line for Thursday.
CINCINNATI REDS (50-62) at LOS ANGELES DODGERS (64-50)
Sportsbook.ag Line: Los Angeles -180, Cincinnati +160, Total: 7
The Cincinnati Reds head north from San Diego to start a four-game set against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday night.
The season is lost for this once potent Reds group as they sit 22.5 games out of first place and have lost seven of their last 10 games. In that time, the offense has been dreadful, scoring a putrid 2.7 runs per game and were shut out on three occasions. They had lost the first two games of this California road trip against the Padres, but found their stroke on Wednesday afternoon with a nice 7-3 victory in which they backed a solid start (6 IP, 3 ER, 3 H, 8 K) by Raisel Iglesias. With three hits in the game, 1B Joey Votto (.304) continued a nice season and is in the top-10 amongst NL batters in batting average, home runs, runs, walks and OPS.
The Dodgers lead the NL West despite losing four of their last four games and are just 13-11 since the All-Star break. They lost four straight contests, first being swept by the Pirates on the road and then the first against Washington, but rebounded nicely with consecutive victories in which they did not allow a run over the past two days. Grienke and Kershaw shutdown the Nationals’ offense and they won the series in the rubber match Wednesday with the aforementioned Kershaw going eight scoreless innings in a 3-0 game. OF Andre Ethier (.286) does not play every day, but in his nine games this month leads the team with five extra-base hits and 21 total bases.
The pitching matchup for the opening game of this series will feature RHP Keyvius Sampson (1-1, 3.00 ERA) for Cincinnati and RHP Mat Latos (4-8, 4.67 ERA) of the host team. It has been a very rough season on the road for the Reds as they’ve compiled a record of 22-36 (.379) in away games as Los Angeles loves playing at home as evidenced by its 39-19 (.672) mark in front of its fans. These two clubs have been very evenly matched over the past three seasons, splitting 14 games (7-7) with the Dodgers doing well (5-2) in their time at home during that stretch.
Trends show that L.A. is a mere 24-35 (.407) against NL Central opponents in the last two years as Cincinnati is a meager 48-68 (.414) in the second half the year in the last two seasons. The injury report continues to have SS Zack Cozart (Knee) and C Devin Mesoraco (Hip) out for the season on the Reds’ side of the ball while 2B Howie Kendrick (Hamstring) and 3B Justin Turner (Thigh) are on the DL for Los Angeles.
Sampson came to the Reds in 2015 after a rough couple of seasons in the high minors over the course of the 2013 and 2014 campaigns. After a strong start in double-A with his new team, the righty really struggled over eight games (7 starts) at triple-A with a 5.08 ERA, as he walked 5.1 batters per nine innings of work. Still, as the team moves forward with the future, they called him up to join the rotation and he has responded quite well thus far in three games (2 starts). In those 12 innings he has a 12:4 K/BB ratio and has allowed a mere seven hits.
He has never seen any of these Dodgers hitters at this level, but will need to watch out for OF Andre Ethier who has hit .355 with two homers and five RBIs over 31 August at-bats and is hitting righties at a .297 clip with all 12 of his long balls on the year. On the other hand, OFs Joc Pederson and Yasiel Puig have collectively gone 9-for-57 (.158) with 18 strikeouts in this month.
The Cincinnati bullpen has not done too well, going 15-22 with a 3.90 ERA (1.32 WHIP) and are 25-for-38 (66%) in save attempts. Aroldis Chapman (1.66 ERA, 24 saves) has just one of those blown saves and is striking out 16.3 batters per nine innings while giving up a mere single homer in 48.2 innings of work (0.18 HR/9).
Latos joined the Dodgers at the trade deadline as L.A. was attempting to bolster their rotation with a former “ace,” but have not seen any positive returns just yet. Before coming to the team, he had pitched to a 4.48 ERA in a pitcher’s park out in Miami, and while he was striking out batters at a clip (8.1 K/9) better than any year since 2011, he was struggling with leaving only 65.1% of runners on base. In his first outing for the Dodgers, Latos was solid with a mere run allowed on four hits over six innings, but struck just one batter out, and then was hit hard (6 ER, 7 H) in four innings against the Pirates; failing to record a strikeout in the process.
He’s had the opportunity of facing the Reds, his former team, three times and is 1-1 (1-2 team record) with a 2.70 ERA (0.65 WHIP) but has not seen them since being a member of the Padres in 2011. Latos hasn’t seen much of the Cincinnati batters, but has had trouble with OF Marlon Byrd (3-for-9, 3 BB) in limited at-bats as 1B Joey Votto and 2B Brandon Phillips are a combined 2-for-14 (.143) in the matchup.
Overall the Los Angeles relievers have not been too impressive, going 23-21 with a 4.11 ERA (1.31 WHIP) and have successfully been able to save 30-of-47 (64%) games. Kenley Jansen (2.67 ERA, 22 saves) is striking out a career-high 16.3 batters per nine, but has already allowed five of his 19 hits to leave the park (1.48 HR/9) in his 30.1 frames.
- Carrie Stroup, Gambling911.com Senior Reporter
