MLB Betting Lines – Free Picks: Liriano Lights Out Against Dodgers

Starting today, we will be presenting the hot pitching and club trends all of which appear below but first another free pick, this one on the Pittsburgh Pirates at -131 across the board vs. the visiting LA Dodgers.

Pittsburgh has been playing very well of late, gong 4-2 vs. the LA Dodgers this season.  Even more importantly, they are 13-3 in their last 16 home games.

The LA Dodgers RH Dan Haren (8-7, 4.30 ERA) is just 2-6 in his last eight road starts and has a 9.64 ERA in three starts this month.  Ouch.

The Pirates LH Francisco Liriano (1-7, 4.43) recently came off the disabled list and only allowed one unearned run and three hits over five innings in his last start.  He has only permitted two runs over 12 frames in his last two starts against the Dodgers.

The Pirates are 13-5 in Liriano's last 18 starts as a home favorite.

The Dodgers are 2-8 in their last 10 games as a road underdog of +110 to +150.

League Trends:

Pitching:

The Nationals Stephen Strasburg is 2-2 when starting against Colorado with an ERA of 2.36.  He yielded three runs and struck out eight in six innings when he last pitched in Colorado on June 25, 2012 but does have tremendous experience pitching at high altitudes while attending San Diego State in the Mountain West Conference.

Philadelphia's AJ Burnett is 6-3 when starting against San Francisco with an ERA of 2.30 and a WHIP of 1.069.

The Pirates Francisco Liriano is 2-0 when starting against LA DODGERS with an ERA of 1.42 and a WHIP of 0.947.

The White Sox Jose Quintana is 0-5 when starting against KANSAS CITY with an ERA of 4.52.

Yu Darvish is 2-0 when starting against NY Yankees with an ERA of 1.35 and a WHIP of 1.101.

Chris Tillman is 2-0 when starting against the LA Angels with an ERA of 1.84 and a WHIP of 0.954.

Jered Weaver is 6-4 when starting against the Baltimore Orioles with an ERA of 3.06 and a WHIP of 1.005.

Team Dominance:

Washington is 5-0 vs. Colorado this season.

Pittsburgh is 4-2 vs. the LA Dodgers this season.

Kansas City is 7-4 vs. the Chicago White Sox this season.

As you can see above, Strasburg should be able to hold Colorado runs at a minimum despite the high altitude and this would coincide with recent trends in this series where 8 of the last 10 meetings have gone UNDER the current 10 run total.

Washington RH Stephen Strasburg (7-7, 3.55 ERA) will be desperate for a win here having only a single victory in his last eight tries and that was a 7-1 win against Colorado back on July 1.

The Rockies LH Jorge De La Rosa (10-6, 4.39) received a no-decision in a 4-2 loss at Pittsburgh on Friday after yielding one run in six innings and leaving with a 2-1 lead.

De La Rosa has yielded four or fewer hits in 11 of his 20 starts this season and is 41-14 at Coors Field.

The UNDER is 7-1-3 in Colorado's last 11 games as an underdog.

The UNDER is 12-4-1 in Nationals last 17 road games with the total set at 9.0-10.5.

The UNDER is 5-0 in Rockies last 5 games as an underdog of +110 to +150.

This game goes off at 3:10 pm EDT.

- Dan Shapiro, Gambling911.com