This article is part of our MLB Picks series.
Previous day: 2-0
Season: 11-3
The streak keeps going as I am 9-0 in my last three weeks for MLB picks. Again, we love to ride the hot streaks, but it can go cold just as fast. Sunday's slate is challenging in that only about 50 percent of the pitchers have a strikeout prop posted as of 10 a.m. EDT. I like to look for overs on strikeout props on Sundays because the hitting lineups tend to be weaker and it is not reflected in the lines.
A lot of teams rest their veterans players on Sundays, especially if they played Saturday night and have a travel day on Monday.
Red Sox at Orioles 1:05 p.m. EDT
The Red Sox are 11-4 on the road and are 16-2 when scoring at least five runs. Expect the trend to continue, as they should beat up on Dean Kremer in Baltimore. Instead of paying the juice of -140 on Pivetta, I would rather get a little value on the run line with the Red Sox -1.5 +110. In higher scoring games, the margin of victory is more often two runs or greater. Some more trends related to Red Sox-Orioles: in five games this year the Red Sox have out scored the Orioles 44-25.
Tip - look for high-scoring offenses on the road against weaker pitchers as they will get nine innings of at-bats.
BET: Red Sox -1.5 runs +110 for 1 RWbuck
Pirates at Cubs 2:20 p.m. EDT
Tyler Anderson vs. Kyle Hendricks
The total in the Cubs/Pirates came out at 6 with the wind blowing in at 15 mph. Hopefully the wind will neutralize the long ball and we'll get a low-scoring close game. I know the Pirates are in the midst of a losing streak, but a lot of the games have been low scoring and less than two runs. The last six games, the average score has been 0.75-2.7. I will go ahead and take the Pirates but on the run line +1.5 with Tyler Anderson, who has pitched reasonably well against Kyle Hendricks, who has not. I would rather be on the side of the Pirates with some runs as insurance. If they don't score, we should be in good shape, and if they happen to get to Hendricks, even better.
BET: Pirates +1.5 runs -165 for 1 RWbuck
Rays vs. A's 4:07 p.m. EDT
Shane McClanahan vs. Cole Irvin
After seeing Jose Quintana strike out NINE Rays in just 3.2 IP, I have to take Cole Irvin over 5.5 strikeouts. I was waiting for this line to populate and it did just as I was wrapping up this article. Irvin has been on a tear in his last four starts with 29 strikeouts, three walks, a 1.42 ERA and 0.99 WHIP. The two starts at home are even more filthy with a 0.64 ERA and 0.57 WHIP. The Rays have struck out at least 10 times in 24 of 35 games (69 percent) and strikeout 33 percent of the time against left-handed pitchers, which is 29th in baseball.
BET: Cole Irvin over 5.5 strikeouts -120 for 2 RWbucks
