For the second day in a row, a pitcher lost a no-hit bid in the ninth inning. Two days ago, Miles Mikolas was one strike away from no-hitting the Pirates, while yesterday, Tyler Anderson lost his no-hit bid against the Angels with one out in the ninth. Who will throw today’s gem?
With a limited nine-game MLB slate today, we have identified our two best plays, which coincidentally are the first two afternoon games of the day.
Here are our best bets for Thursday’s MLB action. (Odds courtesy of DraftKings)
View the best player prop bets for tonight’s slate with our MLB Prop Bet Cheat Sheet >>
Oakland Athletics vs. Boston Red Sox ML
Oakland’s Paul Blackburn (5-2, 2.31) started the year on fire as an early dark horse Cy Young candidate. He went 5-0 through his first nine starts while pitching to a 1.70 ERA and doing so against elite competition. In those nine starts, Blackburn faced four winning teams and six if you count the Angels, who were over .500 at the time before their recent downturn. However, the clock has seemingly struck midnight on Blackburn, as he is 0-2 in his last three starts and has allowed four earned runs in two of them.
Boston counters with Rich Hill (2-3, 4.38), who is the Red Sox’ most vulnerable pitcher these days. However, Oakland’s offense is not built to take advantage of Hill’s shortcomings. The A’s rank last in the majors in team batting average (.211), OBP (.275), and 29th in slugging (.333). They also rank 29th in scoring (208) and 28th in home runs (46). Hill saw Oakland up close and personal in a June 5th road start, and he held the A’s to one earned run on three hits with five strikeouts.
The five strikeouts Hill had in that start are tied for the most that Blackburn has had in any of his last 11. That spells doom against a Red Sox lineup that ranks third in the majors in BABIP (.303). Boston has outscored Oakland 38-6 in five head-to-head wins this season, and we expect a sixth convincing win to wrap up this series.
Bet: Boston Red Sox ML (-155 at DraftKings)
San Diego Padres vs. Chicago Cubs RL
San Diego's Joe Musgrove is one of the leaders for the National League Cy Young Award, as he, Sandy Alcantara, and Corbin Burnes have separated themselves from the pack for now. That recognition is more than deserving, as Musgrove is 7-0 with a 1.50 ERA (second-best in the league) this year. He is one of 11 pitchers with at least seven wins, and one of three with that many wins and no losses.
Musgrove's fantastic start to the season has been historic for other reasons. All 11 of his starts have been quality starts, and just broke Dennis Rasmussen's franchise records for most consecutive quality starts to begin a season. Two starts ago, he also flirted with the second no-hitter of his career, not allowing his first hit until there were two outs in the seventh inning. He is also the first Padres pitcher since James Shields in 2015 to start a season 7-0.
Musgrove has looked the strongest he has ever been, as he has thrown a career-high 114 pitches in one of his starts this season. He now faces a Cubs team that has been outscored 84-26 during a nine-game losing streak. Chicago has scored more than four runs just twice in that span, while pitching to a league-worst 9.70 ERA over the last seven days. That is not a recipe to end a long losing streak against one of the sport's best pitchers.
Bet: San Diego Padres -1.5 Runs (-125 at DraftKings)
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Mike Spector is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Mike, check out his archive and follow him @MikeSpector01.