Can Yusei Kikuchi put together another great performance against the Tampa Bay Rays? Will Luis Ortiz manage at least four strikeouts against the San Diego Padres? And can Shohei Ohtani get his batting average back above .300?
Here are the best PrizePicks plays for Tuesday, August 13.
Our PrizePicks Cheat Sheet helps bettors by comparing lines from PrizePicks vs. our daily MLB projections >>
Can Yusei Kikuchi put together another great performance against the Tampa Bay Rays? Will Luis Ortiz manage at least four strikeouts against the San Diego Padres? And can Shohei Ohtani get his batting average back above .300?
Here are the best PrizePicks plays for Tuesday, August 13.
Our PrizePicks Cheat Sheet helps bettors by comparing lines from PrizePicks vs. our daily MLB projections >>
Tuesday’s Best MLB PrizePicks Player Predictions
This Season: 86-64-5
Kikuchi struck out 11 Rays the last time he faced them. That start came just 11 days ago. He only went 5.2 innings in that contest, but he was dominant, as he threw 95 pitches and allowed just three hits. That was his second start against the Rays this season. In his first start, he struck out only four, but that was also his first start of the season.
Kikuchi has struck out at least eight batters in three of his last four starts, despite not pitching 6.0 innings in any of them. He has 149 strikeouts in 126.2 innings, so many strikeouts in a few innings has been a trend for him all season. The Rays have the eighth-most strikeouts in the league. Expect another solid performance from Kikuchi.
Ortiz just faced the Padres on Thursday, August 8. He struck out three batters in 6.0 innings. Ortiz has only struck out 68 batters in 90.0 innings this season. With that sort of ratio, no matter how many innings Ortiz pitches, he's unlikely to have much success.
The Padres are still the best team in the league at avoiding strikeouts. Considering Ortiz has pitched 6.0 or more innings just four times all season, we don't expect him to replicate Thursday's performance. If he's unable to go at least 6.0 innings, he has almost no chance of hitting this number.
Ohtani hasn't had a very good August. He's batting just .190 this month and because of it, his batting average has dipped below .300 for the first time since the beginning of the season. However, he's still gone over 1.5 total bases in three of his last four games, because he's managed two home runs and a triple during that stretch.
Tonight, Ohtani faces Colin Rea, a pitcher who has had a very good season. However, Ohtani is 1-for-2 against him in his career, and that one hit was a home run. Ohtani's slump has been full of exciting hits, but it has still been a slump. Eventually, Ohtani will break out of the slump. Though Rea is a good pitcher, he has allowed 108 hits and 16 home runs. With one swing of the bat, Ohtani will hit this over.
Phil Wood is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Phil, check out his archive and follow him @Phil_Wood_Jr.
