NPB Odds, Picks & Best Bets for July 14: Carp Looking for Bigger Fish to Fry

• After losing four straight, Yomiuri Giants will look to right ship against Hiroshima Carp
• Orix Buffaloes hope to continue upward ascent with series against Fukuoaka Hawks
• See odds and best bets for all the Nippon Professional Baseball games on July 14

The end of the third full week in Nippon Professional Baseball’s return saw the Tokyo Yakult Swallows continue their upward climb, handing the Yomiuri Giants a pair of defeats over the weekend to take their spot at the top of the Central League standings.

Over in the Pacific League, the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles still occupy top spot despite three consecutive losses, while the Orix Buffaloes climbed out of the basement following three straight wins over the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters.

The Buffaloes will hope to keep that momentum ticking over this week against the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, but before we take a look at that game, let’s have a look at all of Tuesday’s games and odds.

NPB Odds: July 14th

Odds as of July 13th

Carp Coming Through

It’s hard to believe, but the Giants haven’t won a game since July 4. Of course, there have been a whole lot of rainouts over the intervening period, but the team’s four-game losing stretch has seen it replaced at the top of the Central Division by the Tokyo Swallows, the team that beat the Giants two straight times.

https://twitter.com/tom_mussa/status/1282254953755676674?s=20

Now Yomiuri heads to Hiroshima to face another team seemingly on the rise in the shape of the Carp, winners of two straight, including last Saturday’s 19-4 clobbering of the Chunichi Dragons.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyqUaC5ig0Q

At 8-9-1, Hiroshima is on the verge of returning to a .500 record, and to do so will send Aren Kuri to the mound on Tuesday. The right-hander has had a decent 2020 so far, going 1-0 and with a 3.00 earned-run average in his 12 innings. If the Carp caan continue to swing the hot bats they had this weekend – scoring 26 runs in the two wins Saturday and Sunday – Kuri could well get his second win.

https://twitter.com/tom_mussa/status/1273912128102117376?s=20

The Giants will go with Tomoyuki Sugano. The 30-year-old right-hander won the 2014 Central League MVP, so has a track record for success with a 2.37 career ERA and has started 2020 well. He is 2-0 with a 2.91 ERA, having given up seven earned runs in 21.2 innings.

Pick: Carp (+115); U 7.5 (-115)

Buffaloes Aim To Slow Hawks’ Rise

Having climbed out of the Pacific League basement on the back of three straight victories, the Orix Buffaloes begin a six-game series against the defending NPB champion Fukuoka Hawks with Tuesday’s contest.

[Jul 12] Orix Buffaloes vs Nippon Ham Fighters game highlights from Kyocera Dome https://t.co/VNQbAUW30d via @PacificleagueTV #npb

— NPB on reddit (@NPB_Reddit) July 12, 2020

The Hawks are on the rise themselves, having also won three in a row, and against the most prolific offense in Japan: the Tohoku Golden Eagles.

A good series at home could see the 8-11-1 Buffaloes pass the Hawks in the standings and move into fourth, as well as getting above .500 for the first time all season. Left-hander Andrew Albers is first in the firing line for Orix, as the Canadian veteran puts his 1-1 record and 2.12 ERA this season on the line on Tuesday.

NPB starting pitchers announced for Jul 14 #npb pic.twitter.com/NLPZstdkYf

— NPB on reddit (@NPB_Reddit) July 13, 2020

Albers seems to be returning to the light-out form he showed in his debut 2018 season, when he went 9-2 with a 3.08, rather than a down 2019 campaign, when he regressed to 2-6 and a 5.83 ERA.

Yesterday this pitcher (Koudai Senga) achieved perfect game in Japan.
Now one of the best pitchers in Japan, he seems to want to play in MLB.
How is his pitching ???https://t.co/dqAvoZGu9u

— Arizona Diamondbacks 情報収集 (@tsukinoshima123) September 7, 2019

Fukuoka will go with 27-year-old veteran Koudai Senga, who is in his ninth NPB season. The right-hander is 1-0 with a 5.40 ERA in five innings so far this season, far above his career marks, where he is 56-29 with a 2.79 ERA.

Pick: Buffaloes (+125); +1.5 (-140)