KBO Picks & Odds (September 11): Cuevas Dominates Dinos

•  KT Wiz’s William Cuevas is 1-0 with a 0.95 ERA vs first place NC this season
•  Cuevas’ counterpart Drew Rucinski is looking to become the KBO’s first 14-game winner
• Find odds and best bets for the KBO’s five-game slate on September 11th in the article below

On Thursday, KT Wiz and NC combined for 21 hits and seven home runs in a 13-8 Dinos win. The victory gave NC some breathing room atop the division as second place Kiwoom fell to LG, but don’t expect another high scoring affair between the Suwon and Dinos.

 KBO Odds: Friday, September 11th

Odds as of Sept. 10th.

That’s because Friday’s clash features an excellent pitching matchup. NC’s Drew Rucinski is looking to become the KBO’s first 14-game winner, while KT Wiz’s William Cuevas has owned the Dinos in 2020.

Cuevas Has NC’s Number

The 29-year-old has faced NC three times this season and each outing has been a gem. He’s allowed one run or less in all three starts, and has a 15-4 strikeout-to-walk rate. Did I mention that NC is the highest scoring team in the league by a wide margin?

Cuevas vs NC This Season

Cuevas was brilliant in his most recent outing as well, limiting the Heroes to one run and five hits over 8.2 innings, while striking out 7. He’s recorded three quality starts in his last four appearances, and has limited the opposition to three earned runs or less in 11 of his past 13 outings.

What a masterful performance today by William Cuevas in the #KBO, holding the Kiwoom Heroes to just 1 run in 8.2 IP and taking a shutout into the 9th. Here's a quick look at some of his best swing and miss sliders from the evening #KBOLeague pic.twitter.com/M14Lx7PK4U

— Ben Howell (Him/Kim) (@benhowell71) September 5, 2020

The Dinos will counter with Drew Rucinski, who’s been one of the league’s premier pitchers all season. He’s won nine of his last 11 decisions and ranks sixth in strikeouts. He’s limited the opposition to three runs or less in 17 of 21 starts, and is just one of two KBO pitchers with 16 quality starts on his resume.

Normally for a pitching matchup of this quality we’d see a total of 9.5 or lower, so I’ll gladly take the extra bit of cushion.

Pick: Under 10.5 (-130).

Samusung Slumping

Lotte extended Samsung’s losing streak to three games on Thursday, and will look to complete the sweep on Friday. The Giants bats have scored 20 times in their last two contests, and have a favorable matchup versus the Lions Sang Min Lee.

MyKBO's Jeon Jun-woo Grand Slam Bat-Flip of the Day pic.twitter.com/gKJlXJzIzV

— Dan Kurtz (@MyKBO) August 7, 2020

The 29-year-old has been working exclusively as a reliever up until this point, and has not been very effective in that role. He has an ERA of 9.00 in three appearances in 2020, and a career ERA of 8.62 in four seasons.

Lotte will counter with Jun Won Seo, who’s allowed just five earned runs in his last three outings, and hasn’t lost in over six weeks. He’s held opposing teams to three runs or less in 12 of his last 15 starts, and Samsung’s bats have been ice cold recently. Over their last 10 games they’ve averaged just 4.8 runs, which is ahead of only last place Hanwha and 9th place SK. The Lions are especially anemic on the road, averaging just 4.37 runs away from home this season.

Pick: Lotte Giants -1.5 (-102)