Milwaukee Brewers at Philadelphia Phillies Betting Preview
Sunday Night Baseball will feature the rubber match between the Milwaukee Brewers (9-6) and the Philadelphia Phillies (6-9). The Phillies will host this one at Citizens Bank Park, with the first pitch scheduled for 7:08 pm ET.
After dropping the first game 4-2, the Brewers bounced back with a 5-3 win on Saturday. In the victory, Adrian Houser went six innings, allowing three runs on five hits and one walk.
Offensively, the Brewers managed nine hits, including Hunter Renfroe’s second home run of the season. In total, Renfroe went three for four with a run batted in and two runs scored.
For Philadelphia, Zack Wheeler is still looking for his first win of the season after taking the loss Saturday. He went five innings, allowing four runs on seven hits. Odubel Herrera led the Phillies’ offense with two hits.
The Phillies are the favorites playing at home Sunday. They are -162 to win while the Brewers’ moneyline sits at +136. The runline features Milwaukee +1.5 (-150), and the over/under for total runs is eight.
Pitching Matchup
Milwaukee will send lefty Eric Lauer (1-0, 3.48 ERA) to the mound for the finale Sunday. Lauer picked up his lone win in his last outing as he went six innings, allowing a single run against the Pirates.
Philadelphia will counter with righty Aaron Nola (1-2, 5.52 ERA). After picking up the win in his first outing, Nola is coming off of back-to-back losses. In his last game, he went 5.1 innings against the Colorado Rockies, allowing two earned runs on six hits.
Brewers Trying To Stay Hot
After starting the season a disappointing 2-3, the Brewers have won seven of their last ten games entering play Sunday. They will look to stay hot and pick up the series win in their primetime matchup.
While the Brewers live and die by their pitching, first baseman Rowdy Tellez has been the most potent threat to this point. Despite hitting just .227/.277/.500, he leads the team in both home runs (three) and runs batted in (eight).
Keep an eye on Christian Yelich in this one. In 23 career at bats versus Nola, he is hitting .391 with a home run and five runs batted in.
Phillies Trying To End Skid
At 6-9, it has not been the start to the season that the Philadelphia Phillies had hoped for. They have been especially brutal as of late, winning only three of their last 10. Luckily, they have been better at home (4-4) than on the road (2-5), and they will look to get back into the win column Sunday.
Reigning MVP Bryce Harper is currently hitting .241/.318/.448 with two home runs, 11 runs batted in, and 12 runs scored. He leads the team in both runs batted in and runs scored.
The two biggest additions to the offense this offseason were Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos. Despite hitting just .164/.246/.400, Schwarber leads the team with four home runs.
Nick Castellanos is hitting .321/.381/.571 with three home runs and nine runs batted in.
Brewers/Phillies Pick and Prediction
On paper, the Phillies have the advantage on the mound, but it is hard to discount what Eric Lauer has done for Milwaukee. After going 7-5 with a 3.19 ERA last season, he is off to another strong start this year.
It is also hard to trust Philadelphia too much right now. They have struggled to find any consistency this year and have been playing some really poor baseball in their last 10.
Despite their recent struggles, Philadelphia is 8-4 against Milwaukee in their last 12 games.
Still, expect this one to be close, with a winner possibly being determined by the bullpens. For that reason, there is a lot of value in taking the runline.
In this case, that means taking Milwaukee +1.5 (-150).
