Yankees Favored to Snap 7-Game Winless Streak
After losing 2 of 3 earlier this month to the Angels, the Yankees headed back home looking for revenge. Unfortunately, revenge is not what they got as they ended up being hammered by a final score of 8-3. Perhaps even worse than losing by 5 in front of their home fans was the fact that Tuesday’s loss actually marks 7 consecutive losses for the Yankees. Tyler Clippard, who came in as a relief pitcher for the Yankees, pitched just 12 balls before being pulled. In those 12 pitches the reliever gave up a home run, double, triple, and sac fly RBI before being pulled.
The Angels who were +1.5 underdogs powered together 14 total hits that amounted in 8 runs. Michael Pineda pitched nearly 6 innings of baseball and, though he gave up the lead by allowing single runs in the 4th, 5th, and 6th innings, emitted a solid performance overall. What really won it for the Angels, however, was a combination of great hitting late in the game and solid relief pitching. On Wednesday night the pitching outlook is a good bit different from what we saw on Tuesday.
Yankees Look to Stop Skid
Taking the mound for the Yankees (-205) Wednesday night will be left-hander Jordan Montgomery. Montgomery has a 4-4 record and a 3.78 ERA in 12 games started this year. Though his stats may not be overly impressive at face value, Montgomery is a rookie who is making only his 13th career start, which just so happens to be his 13th start of the season as well. The pitcher has done well so far and has lasted into the 6th inning and beyond consistently, all without giving up too many runs. With that being said, his most recent outing against Oakland saw him give up 4 earned runs on 7 hits. Perhaps this was nothing more than a rookie mistake, but it is something to consider when placing wagers on this ballgame.
On the Angels (+175) mound Wednesday night will be Ricky Nolasco, who is 2-8 with a 5.01 ERA. If we were to say that Nolasco is having a less than stellar year so far, that would be the understatement of the century. The right-hander has not won a game since April, and is actually in the midst of a 6-game losing streak. Nolasco has been giving up a lot of runs as of late and his performance seems to get worse with each outing. In New York against a Yankees team that is looking to snap a losing streak, Nolasco is going to very much be up against it on Wednesday night.
Something else you must consider is the amount of runs the Angels have recently been scoring. In their last 3 victories, the team from Los Angeles has scored 8, 9, and 7 runs respectively. Though they are still without AL MVP Mike Trout due to injury, the Angels’ bats seem to be hitting on a higher cylinder as of late. Whether it will be enough to undo a solid rookie pitcher in front of his home crowd or not, however, is something that remains to be seen. The Yankees, on the other hand, seem to have lost the fire they possessed throughout much of late May and early June. Slowly but surely, the Pinstripes seem to be turning into the team everyone thought they would be from when the season kicked off.
Betting Predictions and Analysis
With the way that Nolasco gives up runs, I think the over is perhaps the best bet you can make in this game. Though it is currently listed at 10.5 runs, the over pays out at -110 on Bovada. My reasoning behind this pick is two-fold. For one, Nolasco is in the middle of a losing streak that has seen him bleed runs in every start. Secondly, you have Jordan Montgomery. Though he has performed well thus far, he showed shakiness in his last start and is still a rookie. With all of that being taken into consideration, I really do like the over for this game.
As far as an outright winner is concerned, I think you have to go with the Yankees’ moneyline on this one (-205). The odds are not the best, but I do like the Yankees to snap this losing streak in front of their home fans. Once again, this boils down to Nolasco’s inefficacy so far this season. His last handful of outings have been downright abysmal, so there are very few people who would advocate betting in his favor.
Finally, you have the Yankees team over, which is listed at 5.5 (-130) on Bovada. If they beat up Nolasco the way I think they will, the Pinstripes will have no issues with putting runs on the board. Though they may not be able to reach that over against Nolasco alone, the Angels’ relief staff has been sub-par for a majority of the season thus far, and I would not be at all surprised to see them bleed a few more runs tonight.