Scott Rickenbach – Sports Handicapper

Contrarian Crusher Total - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #905 Thursday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Cincinnati Reds vs St Louis Cardinals @ 7:10 ET - Hot and steamy evening at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati. It is the ideal weather for the ball to be jumping off the bats in Cincinnati and, based on this pitching match-up. we should see plenty of that in this one. Dakota Hudson starts for the Cardinals and he has had decent success against the Reds in his career but this will be his first ever start at Cincinnati! As for the Reds Tanner Roark, he had a decent start against the Cards earlier this season but that was preceded by a rough history against St Louis. Roark allowed 19 earned runs in 24 innings in his 5 prior starts against the Cardinals. The fact that Roark's April start against STL stayed under the total was very unusual as NONE of Roark's first 5 career starts against the Cards resulted in an under. As for the Cardinals, they are 14-8 to the over this season when they are a road dog in a range of +100 to +150. The Reds are 4-1 to the over this season when they enter a game off back to back losses to a division rival. After losing 2 straight to the Cubs, Cincinnati's bats get back on track here but Roark gives up plenty too in what should be a back and forth high-scoring affair. 10* OVER the total in Cincinnati

Earliest Cash - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #904 Thursday 10* Top Play Philadelphia Phillies Money Line (-) vs Los Angeles Dodgers @ 12:35 ET - The Phillies have Aaron Nola on the mound and that is a key to this selection. Nola has been on a tear of late. He has allowed a total of just 3 earned runs in his last 5 starts. Also, The Philadelphia right-hander has held the Dodgers to an average of just 2 earned runs per start in his 3 starts against them in his career. Ross Stripling starts for the Dodgers here and he has allowed 5 homers in his 3 starts against the Phillies in his career. Also, he got rocked for 5 earned runs in less than 5 innings in his most recent start against them. The Phillies lost Nola's most recent start but that was on a 2 out 2 run bomb in the top of the 9th. Prior to that the Phils had won 10 of his last 13 starts and they get back into the win column here with him on the mound. The past 2 and 1/2 months with Nola on the mound, the Phillies have lost back to back games only once! 10* PHILADELPHIA