KBO Picks & Odds (August 14): Alcantara Eyes Revenge

• Raul Alcantara is out to avenge his worst start of the year against KT Wiz
• NC looks to rough up LG rookie Yun Sik Kim
• Find odds and best bets for the KBO’s five-game slate on August 14th in the article below

Thank goodness it’s Friday. Not only because that means the weekend is here, but because it marks the start of five new KBO series at 5:30 am EST.

This week’s earlier set of series weren’t especially kind to us, so here’s hoping that the weekend brings more winners.

 KBO Odds: Friday, August 14th

Odds as of Aug. 13th.

My favorite play of the slate is the Doosan Bears, who will trot out one the league’s best pitchers against the KT Wiz Suwon.

Rollin’ with Raul

Raul Alcantara will have payback on his mind when he toes the rubber on Friday. The last time he faced KT Wiz, he surrendered a season-high five runs in 5 innings. Since then he’s allowed more than two runs in just one of 11 starts, and that was only three to first-place NC.

WOW Raul Alcantara just hit 160 km/h (99 mph!) 🔥

Love the hitter's reaction too. #DoosanBears pic.twitter.com/Wc1DYCvllO

— Justin Choi 🇰🇷 (@justinochoi) June 4, 2020

Last time out, he limited red-hot Lotte to a single run over 6 innings, and the start before that he shut down the Dinos to the tune of two runs in 7 innings of work. He ranks fifth in ERA and WHIP, second in wins and third in strikeouts.

The Suwon bats, meanwhile, have gone cold recently, averaging just 4.14 runs per game over their last seven outings. They’ve dropped four of five, and were outscored 21-8 on Wednesday and Thursday by SK.

KT Wiz will give the ball to Odrisamer Despaigne, who failed miserably in his lone start against the Bears. The 33-year-old gave up 10 runs in 5 innings, marking the second time this season he’s allowed at least eight runs in an outing.

For those of you who like to bet the first 5 innings, Doosan has a 13-1-3 record in that category when Alcantara is on the mound this season.

Pick: Doosan Bears -1.5 (+120) 

Dinos Feast on Struggling Starters

Make no mistake, NC has beat up on a ton of starting pitchers this year, but they’ve been especially hard on struggling starters. Look no further than Thursday, when the Dinos lit up Lotte’s Adrian Sampson for six runs in less than 2 innings.

Our boys were not messing around in the first 🍽#NCDinos | #KBO pic.twitter.com/viUK02OKSQ

— taewoongi (태웅) (@taewoongii) August 13, 2020

Now they’ll take on LG rookie Yun Sik Kim, who’s been a disaster in his three starts this season. In his last outing, he gave up four runs to Kiwoom in a loss, and in his previous two starts, he surrendered five runs to both Hanwha and the Heroes again.

NC will counter with Mike Wright, who hasn’t exactly been sharp lately. The right-hander hasn’t won a start in almost two months, and has surrendered 11 runs in his last three outings. Last time he faced LG, he lasted just 2.1 innings and six of his past 10 starts have gone over the total.

Pick: Over 11.0 (-125)