Minnesota Twins at Chicago White Sox
Over/Under: 9
First pitch: 5:10 p.m. PT
Probable pitchers: Michael Pineda (9-5, 4.26 ERA) vs. Lucas Giolito (14-6, 3.20 ERA)
When a pitcher proclaims their most recent start as being the “best I’ve ever felt pitching in my life,” well, you can’t really catch them at a better time both physically and mentally.
Giolito literally said that following his last outing — a brilliant 12-strikeout shutout that, interestingly enough, came against these same Twins.
The former first-round draft pick’s body of work lately certainly indicates he’s indeed telling the truth. For the first time in his career, Giolito has recorded double-digit K’s in three straight assignments. Prior to this current run, the right-hander had only amassed three performances total with 10 or more strikeouts in his career. Clearly, he’s in prime form right now.
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There’s no doubt Minnesota boasts an intimidating starting lineup but Giolito has handled them just fine this season. In two of his three meetings with the Twins, Giolito kept them scoreless.
The counterpart for this series opener, Pineda, has also been very effective in 2019 against tonight’s opponent. The 30-year-old has faced the White Sox three times this year, notching a 3.15 ERA, 0.90 WHIP and 17-2 K/BB ratio in those starts, spanning 20 innings.
Remember, Pineda was one of my top sleepers entering the campaign, so it’s no surprise to me seeing how steady he’s been since the All-Star break. We’ll try to tap into that consistency, as he’s pitched the Twins into the sixth inning or later in all six of his starts following the Midsummer Classic and yielded three runs or fewer in five of them. Play: UNDER 9 (-105)
Yesterday’s Result: Braves-Rockies Under 13.5 (WIN)
Zylbert’s 2019 MLB Over/Under Betting Record*: 72-64-10, +0.1 unit
*Each bet graded as if it were to win 1 unit