3 IN A ROW? MLB SATURDAY AFTERNOON GRAND SLAM!

My selection is on San Francisco over Cincinnati at 4:10 pm et on Saturday.

The Giants dropped the opener of this series last night as they couldn't get anything off Reds rookie starter Graham Ashcraft. I expect a different story to unfold on Saturday as they go up against Reds starter Vlad Gutierrez who may not be long for the Cincinnati rotation given his results in the early stages of this season. Gutierrez has yet to last five innings in any of his seven starts this season. The one start the Reds managed to win they needed 14 runs to outlast the Brewers in a slugfest. Here at home, Gutierrez has made three starts this season, posting a 9.94 ERA and 1.97 WHIP in 12 2/3 innings of work. While that is a small sample size, going back farther shows Gutierrez allowed 12 earned runs in 9 1/3 innings across his final three home starts last season. Alex Wood will take the ball for the Giants. You can be sure he's been itching to get back on the mound to make amends for his most recent outing, an ugly start in which he gave up five earned runs in three innings of work against the Padres. That start came at home. Wood has actually been better on the road this season, posting a 3-1 team record in four starts, recording a 3.66 ERA and 1.22 WHIP. Here, we'll note that the Reds are a long-term loser when coming off a game in which they allowed one run or less, as is the case here, posting a 241-334 record while being outscored by 0.6 runs on average. Meanwhile, the Giants are 409-331 after losing five or six of their last seven games, which is also the situation here. Take San Francisco (8*).

AUTHOR: Sean Murphy

Sean went 4-3 in MLB action yesterday and extends his RED HOT 47-27 MLB run and 28-14 MLB moneyline tear with a 10* TOP RATED divisional winner on Thursday; be there!