It’s another busy Thursday in baseball! For some, their midweek series are wrapping up, while for others their weekend sets are about to kick off!
Look below to find our free MLB Picks for the five best games on today’s schedule!
Toronto Blue Jays @ Atlanta Braves – 12.20PM ET
The Braves and Blue Jay will wrap up their three game series in Atlanta on Thursday afternoon.
As a result of their most recent 4-1 victory on Wednesday, Toronto improved to 2-0 in this series and 5-0 for the season against Atlanta.
Teoscar Hernandez (two runs, two hits, three RBIs) clubbed two homers in the win, while Hyun-jin Ryu took the W with the ball, allowing just one earned run in seven innings at the mound.
Teoscar Hernandez launching his second nuke of the night. Dude has yet to hit a cheap home run in his life. pic.twitter.com/lGIXMBYt8V
— Jared Carrabis (@Jared_Carrabis) May 13, 2021
Josh Tomlin pitched the ninth inning for Atlanta, giving up two hits and two earned runs in his one frame with the ball.
The Blue Jays will be sending Ross Stripling to the mound for game three on Thursday. Having posted a 6.61 ERA through 16.1 innings with the ball this year, Stripling will be looking to turn around what has been a poor debut season in Toronto.
Similarly, the Braves will be giving the struggling Charlie Morton the opportunity to turn around his rough start to the year. With a 4.98 ERA in 34.1 innings of work this season, Morton has given up 15 runs over his last 11.1 innings.
With a 5-0 record in their season head to head, we like Toronto to continue their dominance over Atlanta in 2021. As the Blue Jays have the better batting lineup when looking at collective batting average and runs scored, Toronto should be able to wrap up a second consecutive sweep over the Braves on Thursday.
MLB Pick – Toronto Blue Jays (+124)
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Philadelphia Phillies @ Washington Nationals – 1.05PM ET
A pair of NL East rivals will conclude their three game series in Washington on Thursday afternoon when the Nationals host the Phillies.
As a result of their 5-2 victory on Wednesday, the Phillies have wrapped up a series victory over the Nationals in Washington.
Although Washington led 2-1 at the top of the ninth, Odubel Herrera clubbed a home run to tie the game before Ryan Hoskins, Nick Manton and Andrew Knapp all hit singles in the 10th, bringing three batters home and giving the Phillies an insurmountable 5-2 lead.
Brad Hand and Kyle Finnegan were costly with the ball for the Nationals, allowing five hits and three earned runs in just two combined innings with the ball.
Zach Eflin will make his eighth start for the Phillies on Thursday. Eflin threw 6.2 innings in his last start, allowing two runs on five hits with one walk and eight strikeouts in a 12-2 victory. With a 3.38 ERA, Eflin will give Philadelphia an advantage at the mound for Thursday’s matchup.
The Nationals are giving Patrick Corbin the ball for his seventh start of the year on Thursday. Although he allowed just three runs on four hits with no walks and two strikeouts in six innings during his last start, Corbin is 1-3 with a 7.36 ERA over 29.1 innings of work this year.
Seeing as Corbin is allowing 3.1 home runs per nine innings in 2021, we can’t rationalise picking him to steer the Nationals to a victory on Thursday. Eflin has been pitching well this season and we like him to lead the Phillies to a win and series sweep on the road on Thursday.
MLB Pick – Philadelphia Phillies (-116)
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Kansas City Royals @ Detroit Tigers – 1.10PM ET
The Kansas City Royals and Detroit Tigers will wrap up their three game series on Thursday afternoon with Detroit looking to cap off a rare sweep on the road.
After winning game one 8-7 on Tuesday, Detroit claimed a series victory on the road with a 4-2 win on Wednesday.
Miguel Cabrera’s two hits and two RBIs saw him become the standalone hits leader in MLB history by a Venezuelan-born player. Detroit’s Casey Mize took the win with the ball, allowing just three hits and two earned runs in six innings at the mound.
As a result, Kansas City have now lost 10 consecutive games since their 16-9 start, now three games below .500.
Congrats, @MiguelCabrera! 🇻🇪 #HazloGrande pic.twitter.com/ZJTcD9aSb7
— MLB (@MLB) May 13, 2021
The Royals will send left-handed pitcher Daniel Lynch to the mound for his third start of the year on Thursday. Lynch allowed eight earned runs in just 0.2 innings in his last start against Chicago, blowing his ERA out to 18.56 after 5.1 innings of work this year.
Spencer Turnbull will take the ball for the Tigers on Thursday, looking to rediscover his early season form. Turnbull will enter Thursday’s game with a 4.90 ERA after allowing seven hits in three innings in his last start against Boston.
For the first time this season, we’re going to back the Tigers. Detroit are on the cusp of a series sweep on the road and we just haven’t seen anything from Kansas City in their past 10 consecutive losses to suggest that they are capable of returning to the winners list on Thursday. Especially when considering that Daniel Lynch is taking the ball for the Royals with a 18.56 ERA after 5.1 innings of work this year.
MLB Pick – Detroit Tigers (-112)
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San Francisco Giants @ Pittsburgh Pirates – 6.35PM ET
The Giants and Pirates will kick off their four game weekend series in Pittsburgh this Thursday night.
San Francisco kicked off Week 6 of the 2021 MLB regular season with a two game sweep against Texas at home. The Giants won Monday’s encounter 3-1 and Tuesday’s finale 4-2.
Brandon Belt continued his strong form with the bat, recording one run, two hits, one walk and two RBIs from the two games against the Rangers. However, it was San Francisco’s pitching staff that steered them to the two victories, allowing Texas to score just three runs in the two games.
As for the Pirates, they recently dropped the third and final game of their set against the Reds, resulting in a 1-2 series defeat. Other than Tuesday’s 7-2 victory, Pittsburgh were outscored 2-19 in their two losses to Cincinnati, most recently going down 1-5 on Wednesday.
With the game tied 1-1 at the bottom of the ninth, Duane Underwood took the ball for Pittsburgh. Underwood gave up three earned runs on three hits at the top of the 10th, essentially handing Cincinnati the victory.
Anthony DeSclafani will make his eighth start of the year for the Giants, currently boasting a 2.40 ERA through 41.1 innings of work. DeSclafani will give San Francisco the edge at the mound with Will Crowe taking the ball for Pittsburgh. Crowe has a 4.02 ERA this season from 15.2 innings of work.
As they are the better team when looking at runs scored and collective batting average, we can’t go past the Giants to win this one at home, extending their lead on top of the NL West. Especially when considering that San Francisco have the sixth best team ERA in the league (3.34) and will have Anthony DeSclafani giving them an advantage at the mound.
MLB Pick – San Francisco Giants (-158)
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Cincinnati Reds @ Colorado Rockies – 8.40PM ET
The Reds and Rockies will close out our Thursday night MLB schedule with the first match of their four game series in Colorado.
Cincinnati will enter Thursday’s encounter fresh off a 2-1 series victory over Pittsburgh. The Reds won Monday’s opener 14-1 and lost Tuesday’s encounter 2-7 before winning Wednesday’s decider 5-1.
Mike Moustakas recorded two runs, two hits, two walks and an RBI in Wednesday’s win, while Eugenio Suarez registered three RBIs. Sonny Gray allowed just one earned run on seven hits in 4.2 innings with the ball in the victory.
Moose is casually hitting .700 against today’s starting pitcher. pic.twitter.com/Mvmn2QDl8G
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) May 12, 2021
As for Colorado, they recently split their Wednesday double header against the Padres, losing game one 3-5 and winning game two 3-2.
Austin Gomber allowed just four hits and one run (zero earned) in 5.1 innings with the ball for the Rockies in game two. However, Josh Fuentes (one run, two hits, three RBIs) was the hero of the day, hitting the walk-off single in the extra inning.
When looking at Thursday’s pitching matchup, neither Colorado’s Chi Chi Gonzalez (5.97 ERA) nor Cincinnati’s Luis Castillo (6.42 ERA) have had good starts to the season. With both pitchers leaking runs, the team with the superior offense should get the W in Thursday’s series opener.
Although the Rockies have the fewest wins in the National League, their lineup has been performing better than expected this season, ranking ninth in runs scored and 12th in collective batting average prior to Wednesday’s games.
However, having hit the fourth most runs in the majors at the fifth best team batting average, Cincinnati are undeniably the superior lineup in this matchup and they are more than capable of piling on the runs against the Rockies in Colorado. Especially when considering that the Rockies rank last in the league for team ERA this season (5.19).
MLB Pick – Cincinnati Reds (-134)
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*Odds and spreads correct at time of publication, courtesy of FanDuel.
