Ricky Dimon
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The Major League Baseball week continues with a full 15-game slate on Friday. There are all kinds of options as we try to come up with some successful YRFI/NRFI bets. The Pickswise experts have won 26 of their last 34 YRFI/NRFI plays including a 2-0 day yesterday, and I went 2-0 on Wednesday, so let’s keep the momentum going!
This market has become extremely popular in baseball betting. After all, you don’t have to sit around for 3 hours (or maybe a lot less now that games are not as long on average!) to see if your wager hits; the satisfaction (or in some cases disappointment) is immediate. It all comes down to the first inning.
Here are my best YRFI/NRFI bets for Friday, and also be sure to check out all of our MLB picks.
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Arizona Diamondbacks vs Pittsburgh Pirates: NRFI (-128)
Zach Gallen is going for Arizona and that is immediate good news for NRFI bettors. Gallen is 6-1 with a 2.35 ERA to go along with 71 strikeouts and only 8 walks in 57.1 innings of work. The right-hander has allowed a first-inning run only twice in 9 starts this season and in 4 of his last 7 he has not allowed a single run in any inning.
Pittsburgh’s Johan Oviedo has been knocked around in the first inning quite a few times this season. However, when one pitcher is almost a lock to throw a scoreless opening frame I’ll happily roll the dice for other one to match him. It’s not like Oviedo is facing a juggernaut lineup, anyway. Arizona has overachieved so far, but I don’t expect it to continue. Also, nobody on the Snakes has more than 3 lifetime at-bats against Oviedo and nobody has more than 1 hit.
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Chicago Cubs vs Philadelphia Phillies: NRFI (+100)
Making his second start of the season, Ranger Suarez will work the top of the first against the Cubs. Suarez held the Rockies scoreless in the opening frame of 2023 in what was overall a mediocre performance. He should fare better against a Chicago club that has lost 5 in a row and is averaging barely more than 3 runs per game during this stretch. Seiya Suzuki has homered off Suarez, but no one else in the order has any notable success in this matchup and Dansby Swanson is 2-for-20 in his career against the left-hander.
The Cubs are countering with Marcus Stroman, who has given up a first-inning run just once this year. Stroman is sporting a 3.24 ERA and in 7 of 9 starts he has logged at least 6.0 innings without surrendering more than 2 runs. In other words, the righty is pretty much lights-out every time he toes the rubber. There is no reason to think anything will change against the Phillies. J.T. Realmuto is 7-for-20 against Stroman, but nobody else on Philadelphia has done anything and Nick Castellanos is 3-for-23.
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