Pro Edge Sports has you covered with its Major League Baseball Betting Tips and Free Picks blog for Sunday.
Pittsburgh Pirates at Miami Marlins
Pittsburgh has won five of its last six games and looks to complete the sweep over the Marlins on Sunday afternoon. Accomplishing that goal could be difficult against Miami right-hander Henderson Alvarez, who takes the mound with a 2.56 ERA and 1.28 WHIP this season. The 24-year-old hurler is also 3-1 with a 1.47 ERA and 0.95 WHIP at home and 1-0 with a 0.47 ERA and 1.03 WHIP over his last three outings.
Alvarez, who leads the Majors with three shutouts this season, left his previous start in the sixth inning when he overextended his legs while covering first base. “We dodged a bullet,” Miami manager Mike Redmond said. “He landed hard, and he got stretched out there.” Alvarez claims to be in perfect health for today’s start, and he will have to be at his best against a Pittsburgh squad that has scored 72 runs and hit sixteen home runs in June. Based on Alvarez’s metrics – a 3.49 xFIP and a 3.69 SIERA – he could be up for the challenge this afternoon.
Pittsburgh hands the ball to right-hander Vance Worley, who was acquired from the Twins at the end of Spring Training. Worley posted a 3-2 record with a 4.30 ERA in seven starts at Triple-A Indianapolis. Worley was the Opening Day starter for the Twins last year, but he struggled mightily as evidenced by his 1-5 record and 7.21 ERA in ten starts before being demoted to Triple-A. Worley now faces a Miami offense that is batting .275 with a .345 on base percentage at home (5.2 runs per game).
Texas Rangers at Seattle Mariners
Not much can be said for Texas rookie Nick Martinez, who is 1-2 with a 5.91 ERA in seven starts this season. The Fordham product also toes the rubber in terrible form with an 11.08 ERA and 2.46 WHIP over his last three outings, including yielding a combined 12 earned runs in his last 7 1/3-innings of work. Standing behind Martinez is a terrible bullpen that owns a 5.06 ERA and 1.50 WHIP on the road, a 5.14 ERA and 1.34 WHIP in day games and a 5.87 ERA and 1.30 WHIP over the last seven games.
Since the beginning of 2013, Seattle starter Hisashi Iwakuma is 18-9 with a 2.78 ERA and 0.99 WHIP. Despite missing the first month of the 2014 campaign with a torn finger tendon, Iwakuma has not 4-3 with a 2.79 ERA and 0.96 WHIP in 2014, including posting a 2.97 ERA and 0.99 WHIP at home. Even more impressive is the fact that Iwakuma is 27-14 with a 2.98 ERA in 57 career starts for the Mariners. Iwakuma should have little trouble limiting an injury-riddled Texas offense that is batting just .265 with a .324 on base percentage (4.2 runs per game) in 2014, including hitting .248 with a .314 on base percentage versus division opponents and .259 with a .315 on base percentage over the last ten days (3.8 runs per game).
Major League Baseball Betting Nuggets:
- Doug Fister is 5-0 with a 1.95 ERA in his L/5 starts;
- Madison Bumgarner is 3-1 with a 1.24 ERA in his L/4 starts;
- Josh Beckett is 4-2 with a 2.17 ERA in his L/6 starts;
- Bronson Arroyo is 5-2 with a 2.91 ERA in his L/8 starts;
- Chris Tillman is 1-1 with a 9.30 ERA in his L/5 starts;
- Rick Porcello is 1-3 with a 7.43 ERA in his L/4 starts;
- David Price is 0-3 with a 5.20 ERA in his L/5 starts
- Hector Santiago is 0-4 with a 5.55 ERA in his L/5 starts;
- Mike Minor is 0-2 with a 4.81 ERA in his L/4 starts