MLB No Runs First Inning (NRFI) Picks & Predictions: Thursday (4/13)
We have a short slate of games for today with many teams getting the day off. We only have seven games to choose from for today’s NRFI bets. As always all odds will come from DraftKings Sportsbook.
Season to Date: 3-4
Thursday’s Best No Runs First Inning (NRFI) Bets
Odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook
Boston Red Sox at Tampa Bay Rays 1:10 ET
The Rays have been the biggest story in all of baseball. They have gotten off to a 12-0 start both on the power of their offense as well as their excellent pitching. Jeffrey Springs has potentially been the best of the bunch thus far taking a huge step forward in the early going. Boston’s offense has been around league average against left-handed pitchers and has the tenth-highest K% against southpaws in the early part of the season. The loss of Adam Duvall should also hurt them a bit and Springs has been just so excellent that I anticipate he keeps it rolling.
The tough side of this bet is Corey Kluber. While he is obviously a former CY Young winner, he has gotten off to a rough start in 2023. He has not at all looked like himself with a BB% of 13% which would easily be the highest of his career. The Rays’ offense has obviously been great thus far but if Kluber can find his command again, he still is a talented enough pitcher to keep the Rays off the board. In his career, he has allowed a wOBA of .282 the first time through the order and I believe that he will pitch more like that guy than the one we have seen thus far in 2023.
Pick: No Runs First Inning (NRFI) (-125)
Minnesota Twins at New York Yankees 7:05 ET
Both teams are coming into this matchup extremely banged up. Joey Gallo and Max Kepler recently went on the IL for the Twins, and Byron Buxton left yesterday’s game after a collision. Jhony Brito makes his third start for the Yankees and has been excellent thus far. Overall, the skillset isn’t one that typically interests me but thus far he has limited walks extremely well. This is a skill we like in our NRFI bets and this combined with the extremely compromised Twins’ offense makes this an attractive bet.
For the Twins, Joe Ryan takes the mound and his skill set is different from Brito’s. He has carried an insanely high K% thus far and gets a similarly banged-up Yankee lineup. There is a decent chance the Yankees are without both DJ Lemahieu and Gleyber Torres like they were yesterday. While Aaron Judge still lurks at the top of the Yankee order, the loss of those two bats makes it much easier to pitch around Judge and keep the Yankees off the board in the first.
Pick: No Run First Inning (NRFI) (-110)
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