Zack Wheeler had a solid start for the Philadelphia Phillies. Will he keep it going against the San Francisco Giants tonight? In Cleveland, how will the Detroit Tigers' Jack Flaherty fare against the Cleveland Guardians? And will Max Kepler's bat stay hot against the Seattle Mariners?
Here are the best MLB PrizePicks plays for the Monday, May 6th baseball games.
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Zack Wheeler had a solid start for the Philadelphia Phillies. Will he keep it going against the San Francisco Giants tonight? In Cleveland, how will the Detroit Tigers' Jack Flaherty fare against the Cleveland Guardians? And will Max Kepler's bat stay hot against the Seattle Mariners?
Here are the best MLB PrizePicks plays for the Monday, May 6th baseball games.
Our PrizePicks Cheat Sheet helps bettors by comparing lines from PrizePicks vs. our daily MLB projections >>
Monday’s Best MLB PrizePicks Player Predictions
Here are our top MLB PrizePicks player predictions for Monday’s slate of baseball games.
This Season: 25-19-1
Wheeler has struck out at least eight batters in four of his seven starts this season. However, three of those four performances came against teams that rank in the top six in the league in total strikeouts. Wheeler has struck out six or fewer in his other three games, and he could struggle tonight against a Giants lineup that is good at making contact.
The Giants have the 11th-fewest strikeouts in the league and rank in the top 10 in strikeouts per game. Wheeler does have a lot of history against this lineup, and he's struck out 28 batters in 85 attempts. But that still averages out to one strikeout for every three batters, which means Wheeler would have to pitch more than 7.0 innings tonight to hit this number. He does have two starts of 7.0 or more innings, but even in those games, he struck out five and eight. With how the Giants hit, expect him under tonight no matter how long he pitches.
Flaherty struck out 14 in 6.2 innings in his last start, which was his second start with 10 or more strikeouts this season. Despite the performance, his total is set at just 5.5 tonight. What makes the number even more shocking is that Flaherty has struck out at least six batters in five of his six starts.
With all this in mind, the over may seem obvious. However, the Guardians have a lineup that's been difficult for opposing starters to master, as they are tied for the fourth-fewest strikeouts in the league. On top of that, there is Flaherty's history against this lineup; he's struck out just six batters in 26 at-bats. Even if he goes slightly above that pace tonight, he will still max out at five strikeouts.
Since April 22, all Kepler has done is hit. He's hit safely in 11 of his 12 games during that span, recording multiple hits five times. Yet, this number feels high for a few reasons.
Kepler only has five extra-base hits this season. He had one in each of his last two games, but he has yet to record an extra-base hit in three consecutive games this season. And while Kepler is batting .333 against Luis Castillo with one double and one home run, this line still feels like it's asking too much of him. Castillo was phenomenal in his last start, allowing just three hits in 7.0 innings. If he pitches like that again today, then Kepler will be lucky to get one hit. Because of this line, one hit is probably not enough.
Phil Wood is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Phil, check out his archive and follow him @Phil_Wood_Jr.
