How will Cade Povich perform as his Baltimore Orioles take on the Houston Astros? Will Luis Castillo hit eight strikeouts against the San Francisco Giants? And is Shohei Ohtani in for a huge night in a very favorable matchup against Tyler Alexander and the Tampa Bay Rays?
Here are the best PrizePicks plays for Friday, August 23rd.
Check out all of the PrizePicks boards for today>>
How will Cade Povich perform as his Baltimore Orioles take on the Houston Astros? Will Luis Castillo hit eight strikeouts against the San Francisco Giants? And is Shohei Ohtani in for a huge night in a very favorable matchup against Tyler Alexander and the Tampa Bay Rays?
Here are the best PrizePicks plays for Friday, August 23rd.
Check out all of the PrizePicks boards for today>>
Friday’s Best MLB PrizePicks Player Predictions
This Season: 92-69-6
This is not a good matchup for Cade Povich. He has no history against the Astros, a team that just recorded eight hits and six runs against his Orioles yesterday. Povich has struck out just 31 batters in 43.2 innings. He's allowed 36 hits and 28 earned runs. He's allowed at least five hits in eight of his nine starts.
Though Povich has pitched at least 5.0 innings in six of his nine starts, he's going to get chased early tonight. The Astros have the 12th-most runs and third-most hits in the league. They're going to put pressure on Povich all night, which will keep his strikeout total low. After all, the Astros have only struck out 923 times this season, the third-fewest in the league.
Luis Castillo has been very inconsistent this season. He's 10-12 with a 3.51 ERA. In his last seven starts, he's alternated between allowing one or fewer earned runs and three or more runs. But the one thing Castillo has going for him against the Giants tonight is how long he will be on the mound.
Castillo has not had a start under 5.0 innings this season. He's thrown 154 strikeouts in 153.2 innings, so we can all but assume his floor for this game is five strikeouts. He doesn't have much history against the Giants, but he has struck out eight batters in 25 chances. The Giants have the 10th-most strikeouts in the league. If Castillo goes 5.0 innings, which he most likely will, he should throw at least six or seven strikeouts. If he completes a full six in this matchup, he should hit this more than line.
Shohei Ohtani has hit safely in five consecutive games, despite batting just .198 this month. Tonight, he is in line for a breakout game that officially ends his slump.
Ohtani gets to face Tyler Alexander, a pitcher he has had a lot of success against. He's 4-for-6 against him in his career with two doubles and one home run. Alexander has allowed 80 hits in 76.2 innings this season. Sixteen of those hits were home runs. Ohtani will only need one swing to hit this over. If he gets two cracks at Alexander he may end up with more than four total bases.
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Phil Wood is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Phil, check out his archive and follow him @Phil_Wood_Jr.
