Cleveland Guardians at Los Angeles Dodgers Betting Preview
The Cleveland Guardians continued a successful trip West of the Mississippi by getting just enough offense in a 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers in 10 innings on Friday night. That has pushed Cleveland’s record to 4-0 on this stretch following a sweep in Coors Field.
The Dodgers’ high-powered offense continues to struggle, with a solo Cody Bellinger HR accounting for their only run. Oddsmakers don’t seem to be worried about L.A’s recent offensive inefficiencies, setting them as huge -233 favorites in Saturday’s game two.
Guardians Getting By
Cleveland’s rare trip to Denver didn’t produce the runs one would normally expect from a visit to Coors Field, but the Guardians were still able to get the sweep with 4-3, 7-5, and 4-2 victories. Cleveland was then outhit 8-6 in Friday’s series opener but got the 2-1 win on a Richie Palacios sacrifice fly in the 10th inning.
The offense may again be hard to come by on Saturday against Julio Urias, but then again, who knows the way Jose Ramirez and Amed Rosario are hitting the baseball lately. Both batters are hitting above .400 over the past week, and Rosario has a HR in his only career appearance vs. the Dodgers left-hander.
Zach Plesac kept the Dodgers offense at bay, allowing just 1 ER over 6.0 IP on Friday, a performance that Cal Quantrill (4-3, 3.38 ERA) would like to equal in game two. Quantrill makes his first road start since May 25th, going 1-3 with a 3.63 ERA in five starts away from Progressive Field this season.
Dodgers Offense in a Rut
Los Angeles is the #3 scoring offense in the MLB, but they aren’t playing like it lately. The Dodgers have been held to two runs or less in five of their last six games, not surprisingly going 2-4 over that span.
L.A. will try to turn things around at the plate on Saturday, but the recent numbers are pretty bleak. Freddie Freeman is hitting just .235 over the past week, while Mookie Betts (.125) and Justin Turner (.105) are also in the midst of their own slumps.
Urias (3-6, 2.80 ERA) struck out ten batters over 6.0 IP in his last outing, but he gave up two HRs in a 2-0 San Francisco win. The Dodgers have now lost in six of Urias’ last eight starts, which doesn’t help make the -233 moneyline look any more appealing.
Guardians/Dodgers Betting Prediction
There’s absolutely no value in Los Angeles at -233, and -110 on the run line doesn’t look much better the way the Dodgers can’t seem to score more than two runs in a game lately.
The Guardians are on a nice little stretch of a season-high five straight wins and a mark of 8-2 over their last 10. They aren’t blowing teams out for the most part, but they are keeping things close and coming through in the later innings.
There’s a chance Cleveland wins this one outright the way L.A. has struggled when Urias pitches, but the run line has a good price in what could be another low scoring, one run game.
Pick: Cleveland +1.5 (-110)
