Miami Marlins at Los Angeles Angels Betting Preview
East coast will meet west coast on Monday night as the Miami Marlins (1-2) square off with the Los Angeles Angels (1-3) in an interleague matchup. The Angels will host this one at Angel Stadium, with first pitch scheduled for 9:38 pm ET.
The Marlins opened up the season, dropping two of three to the San Francisco Giants. On Sunday, they lost three to two despite outhitting San Francisco 11 to six.
From the leadoff spot, Jorge Soler led the team with three hits, while Joey Wendle added two hits and scored both runs. Trevor Rogers allowed two earned runs over five frames for the Marlins.
The Angels also struggled over the weekend, dropping three of four to the Houston Astros. They lost the finale four to one on Sunday.
In the loss, Jack Mayfield accounted for their only scoring with a solo home run in the second inning. Jose Suarez took the loss after giving up two runs in 4.1 innings.
The Angels are the favorites playing at home Monday. They are -152 to while the Marlins’ moneyline sits at +128. The spread features Miami +1.5 (-162), and the over/under for total runs is 9.5.
Pitching Matchup
Miami will send righty Elieser Hernandez to the mound to make his season debut against the Angels’ Michael Lorenzen.
Last season, Hernandez fought injuries, only appearing in 11 games. In that span, he went 1-3 with a 4.18 ERA, 1.32 WHIP, and struck out 53 in 51.2 innings.
Lorenzen was signed in the offseason after spending his first seven seasons with the Cincinnati Reds. Primarily a bullpen piece, Lorenzen did not make a single start last year and went 1-2 with a 5.59 ERA in 27 games.
Marlins Need To Improve Poor Road Play From Last Season
At 67-95, the Marlins finished fourth in the NL East in 2021. One reason was an especially poor road record. While they were 42-39 at home, they were just 25-56 on the road.
Already starting the season at 1-2 on the road, they will try to improve on that record on Monday as they visit Angel Stadium.
After winning last season’s World Series MVP, the Marlins are hoping to get an injection to an offense that ranked 29th in scoring last season (3.85 runs per game) from Jorge Soler. Sunday was a good start as he cracked his first three hits of the season.
Through the first series, Jazz Chisholm Jr. has been the hottest hitter. Despite only playing in two of the three games, he is tied for the team lead in hits (three), home runs (one), and runs batted in (three).
Angels Looking For Power From MVPs
Four of the last eight AL MVP awards have gone to the top two hitters in the Los Angeles Angels lineup in Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout. If you add their number three-hitter, Anthony Rendon, they may have one of the best top-thirds of any lineup in baseball.
Still, the Angels struggled to score runs in their opening series. In four games, they scored just ten runs, and that is only that high because they scored six in a blowout loss on Friday.
To this point, both Ohtani and Trout have struggled. Ohtani is just 2 for 17 with five strikeouts, while Trout is 3 for 13. Trout did hit a home run in Saturday’s lone victory, but the MVPs obviously haven’t gotten rolling yet.
Jared Walsh has been the Angels’ strongest hitter. He is 6 for 16 with a home run and three runs batted in.
Take The Marlins +1.5
It is only a matter of time before the Angels’ offense starts clicking, but they may have some trouble on Monday. When healthy, Elieser Hernandez is sneakily a strong rotation piece, while Lorenzen will be making his first start in over a year.
It will be interesting to see how deep into the game Lorenzen will be able to go, giving an Angels’ bullpen that was used quite a bit in the opening series even more work.
Going back to last year, the Marlins are 0-7 in interleague matchups, but six of their last nine games overall have gone under. With scoring sometimes at a premium, taking the runline may not be a bad play.
It also doesn’t hurt that the Angels are 6-14 in their last 20 games overall and 3-13 in their last 16 at home. This one could go either way and for that reason, take Miami +1.5.
