Reds vs Cleveland Odds and Picks (August 9)
- The Cincinnati Reds are -164 road favorites over Cleveland in an MLB inter-league game slated for Monday, August 9th
- The game is a makeup for a postponement in May
- Cincinnati holds a 3-2 edge over Cleveland in the battle of Ohio during the 2021 season
Perhaps the biggest news in baseball on Sunday was that the Cincinnati Reds didn’t score five runs. A 3-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates completed a sweep of their weekend series. But it was the first time in seven games that the Reds didn’t put a five-spot on the scoreboard.
Meanwhile, Cleveland was outscoring the Detroit Tigers 7-5 on Sunday to take two out of three in their weekend series.
Ohio’s two MLB clubs clash Monday in a makeup game from a May 9 postponement. The visiting Reds (61-51, 30-24 away) are -164 favorites over Cleveland (54-55, 28-24 home). Cincinnati is the #1 over team in the National League. The Reds are 60-46-6 on the total this season. That’s a 56.6% over percentage.
Reds vs Indians Odds
| Team | Moneyline | Runline | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cincinnati Reds | -164 | -1.5 (-104) | O 9.5 (-118) |
| Cleveland | -170 | +1.5 (-115) | U 9.5 (-104) |
Odds as of August 9th at FanDuel
First pitch for Monday’s game is slated for 6:10pm ET.
Castillo vs Hentges
| 6-10 | Record | 1-4 |
| 4.09 | ERA | 7.86 |
| 3.88 | xERA | 6.12 |
| 1.38 | WHIP | 2.01 |
| 2.37 | SO/W Ratio | 1.73 |
Reds righthander Luis Castillo is delivering the goods in his recent trips to the mound. He’s allowed more than one earned run in just one of his past six starts. Though his last four starts, Castillo has surrendered five earned runs in 25 innings pitched. He’s struck out 32 batters during that 25-inning stretch.
He’s worked at least six innings in nine of his past 10 starts. Castillo has won his last three starts and his last four decisions. Since the beginning of June, Castillo owns a 1.91 ERA and a 1.12 WHIP.
Another successful Niño Day!
Luis Castillo since the start of June:
🔴 1.91 ERA
🔴 80 K in 75 1/3 IP
🔴 1.12 WHIP pic.twitter.com/jr98BgHPuG— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) August 4, 2021
Castillo is is 0-2 lifetime with a 4.80 ERA against Cleveland. He faced them once this season in Cleveland and it didn’t go well. On May 8 he gave up six runs (four earned) in four innings. Castillo took the loss in a 9-2 setback.
Rookie left-hander Sam Hentges is struggling every bit as much as his numbers would indicate. He’s among the bottom 4% of MLB pitchers in xERA (6.12), xWOBACON (.429), xWOBA (.371) and barrel percentage (12.3). He’s in the bottom 6% in xSLG (.497).
Hentges will be making his first start since July 7. He’s 0-4 as a starter. In those four losses, Hentges has allowed 22 earned runs in 12 innings pitched. That works out to an ERA of 16.50. In this start, he figures to be more of an opener than a full-on starting pitcher. Cleveland is likely to go with a bullpen game.
Sam Hentges will start for Cleveland tomorrow, but it'll be a sort of all-hands-on-deck bullpen-type game as they leave everything out on the field with possession of the Ohio Cup hanging in the balance.
— Zack Meisel (@ZackMeisel) August 8, 2021
He’ll be facing the Reds for the first time in his big-league career. Hentges is 1-1 with a 6.38 ERA at Progressive Field this season. Opposition batters are clipping him for a .308 rate. He’s also showing an .875 OPS at home.
Batting Average vs Starting Pitchers
| Cleveland Batters | Batting Average vs Castillo | Reds Batters | Batting Average vs Hentges |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bobby Bradley | .000 | Shogo Akiyama | .000 |
| Ernie Clement | .000 | Aristides Aquino | .000 |
| Andres Gimenez | .000 | Tucker Barnhart | .000 |
| Austin Hedges | 1.000 | Nick Castellanos | .000 |
| Oscar Mercado | .000 | Kyle Farmer | .000 |
| Owen Miller | .000 | Jonathan India | .000 |
| Harold Ramirez | .000 | Mike Moustakas | .000 |
| Jose Ramirez | .222 | Tyler Naquin | .000 |
| Wilson Ramos | .000 | Tyler Stephenson | .000 |
| JT Realmuto | .167 | Eugenio Suarez | .000 |
| Franmil Reyes | .222 | Joey Votto | .000 |
| Amed Rosario | .444 | Jesse Winker | .000 |
| Myles Straw | .000 | — | — |
| Bradley Zimmer | .000 | — | — |
Cleveland shortstop Amed Rosario is 4-for-9 (.444) in his career facing Castillo. That includes a home run and two RBI. Third baseman Jose Ramirez is batting just .222 (2-for-9) against Castillo, but he’s also homered and driven in a pair of runs. Catcher Austin Hedges is 1-for-1 (1.000) with an RBI.
No Reds batter has previously faced Hentges.
Reds vs Cleveland Pick
For all their run producing exploits, the Reds offense has been seriously handcuffed by Cleveland pitchers this season. Cincinnati beat Cleveland 10-3 on April 6. In the four games since, the Reds have tallied a combined 11 runs. They’ve never scored more than three in any of those four ensuing games.
Regardless, Cincinnati is 11-2 over the past 13 games. The Reds have plated no less than five runs in 14 of their past 16 games. They are a season-high 10 games over .500.
Cleveland is 2-4 over the past six games. Since sitting at 41-31 on June 24, they’ve gone 13-24 through the last 37 contests. Cleveland is a dismal 6-14 straight up as a home underdog this season.
- Pick: Cincinati Reds (-164); Over 9.5 (-118).
An industry veteran, Bob literally taught the course on the history of sports at Elder College. He has worked as a Sports Columnist for Postmedia, appeared as a guest on several radio stations, was the Vice President of the Society For International Hockey Research in Ontario, and written 25 books.
