The Arizona at Colorado game has the highest projected run total of the night, and is a top stack option for tonight. The Rockies have the more friendly price tags, but if looking to pay up for Scherzer, Darvish, or Archer tonight, you will have to find some cheaper stack option.
Angels @ Rangers
While the game at Coors currently has a 11.5 projected run total tonight, the Angels at Rangers game is not too far behind at 11 projected runs. Last night’s game ended with a final score of 10-9, and the result could be similar tonight.
The Angels are the favorites tonight vs A.J. Griffin, who is 2-3, with a 4.44 ERA since returning from the DL back on August 3rd. Griffin hasn’t allowed more than four runs in any of those five starts, but has allowed a three homer game to the Mets, and only lasted 3.1 innings in his last start, allowing three runs off two homers to Oakland. In his three previous starts before going on the DL, Griffin allowed 17 earned runs over 9.2 innings. Griffin probably won’t last long though, as starting pitchers have lasted less than 6 innings against the Angels in each of the last 3 games. Mike Trout is now hitting behind Brandon Phillips, and in front of Justin Upton. He’s taken Griffin deep in three of his six career hits off of him.
Ricky Nolasco starts for the Angels tonight, and is trying to record three straight wins without a decision loss for the first time this year. That won’t happen tonight for Nolasco I feel. He held the Rangers to just one run over 4.2 innings back on August 22nd at home, but his other two starts this season for him did not go as well. In July, Nolasco didn’t make it out of the second inning, allowing eight earned runs in 1.2 innings. He also faced them in his first start of the season, allowing five runs in five innings. Overall, he is 0-2, with a 11.12 ERA over those three starts. Joey Gallo replaced Beltre at third base last night, and hit his 37th homer of the year. Carlos Gomez is 5-14 with two home runs off of Nolasco, while Elvis, Mazara, and Odor have all taken him deep as well.
Top Angel’s Picks: Mike Trout, Justin Upton, Albert Pujols, Martin Maldonado, Luis Valbuena (FD)
Secondary Ranger’s Picks: Joey Gallo (DK), Elvis Andrus, Shin-Soo Choo Carlos Gomez, Rougned Odor
Royals @ Twins
The Twins lost a tough one last night, leaving the bases loaded to end the game that finished with a 7-6 score. Tonight, both teams are projected to score over five runs in a key wild card race series.
The Twins are the favorites at home tonight, facing a first time starter in Onelki Garcia. In his first appearance for the Royals, he allowed five runs, over 5.2 innings of relief. Twins hitters have an OBP of .347 at home this season (Rank: 5th of 30 in MLB), and have an OPS of .806 versus starting pitchers this season (Rank: 4th of 30 in MLB). They should also have Buxton back tonight to add to their powerful offense as of late, scoring at least five run in seven straight games.
The Twins are starting Kyle Gibson tonight, who has allowed three runs over his last 13.2 innings, after allowing three or more runs over his previous six starts. He faced the Royals twice back in April, allowing three runs in each game, but hasn’t seen them since. Although the Royals have been hit or miss over the last week, their prices are low enough to be able to fit in a top pitcher. They also won’t be highly owned tonight with some other top options.
If you are not keen on using the Royals as a full game stack, feel free to go back to a late night hammer Mariners or Dodgers stack.
Top Suggested Stack:
Twins: Brian Dozier, Jorge Polanco, Byron Buxton, Max Kepler, Eddie Rosario (2 of 3 for OF)
Royals: Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Salvador Perez, Brandon Moss or Lorenzo Cain
Player News
Gabriel Arias went 4-for-5 with a double in the Guardians’ 8-6 defeat of the Nationals on Wednesday.
Arias’s double was the hardest-hit ball of the game at 109.5 mph. He has a fine .287/.339/.452 line in 127 plate appearances, even though he’s sporting the worst contact rate (60%) and fourth-highest groundball rate (58%) among 161 qualified major league hitters. It’s certainly reason for some skepticism going forward.
Logan Allen yielded three runs in four innings Wednesday in a no-decision against the Nationals.
Allen gave up seven hits and walked four, so allowing only three runs was quite an accomplishment. Scoring all of their runs in the sixth, the Guardians ended up winning the game 8-6 even though the Nationals had more hits (13-10), more extra-base hits (4-2) and more walks (7-5). Allen remains 1-2 with a 4.33 ERA through seven starts. He’ll face the Brewers next.
Emmanuel Clase notched his eighth save with a scoreless ninth against the Nationals on Wednesday.
All three balls in play against Clase were hit hard, with one falling for a single. The right-hander struck out the other batter he faced. Clase has allowed two runs — one earned — over six innings in six appearances since his Apr. 20 blown save and subsequent shoulder scare.
Michael Soroka was charged with four runs in five-plus innings Wednesday in a loss to the Guardians.
Making his return from the IL, Soroka struck out eight through five scoreless innings. That’s how this blurb could have begun if Soroka hadn’t been allowed to start the sixth today. Still, there’s not really any blaming Dave Martinez here; Soroka’s pitch count was great, the Nationals bullpen is terrible and all but one of the team’s relievers worked in Tuesday’s doubleheader. Soroka faced four batters in the sixth, giving up two singles, hitting a batter and then surrendering a three-run double. It was still an encouraging day for him — he had a 38% CSW and he allowed just one hard-hit ball through five — but he’s probably not currently a mixed-league guy while pitching for a bad team. He’ll face his old friends in Atlanta next time out.
Jorge López was charged with three runs without retiring a batter in the sixth inning Wednesday against the Guardians.
He gave up two singles and a walk before being pulled after just eight pitches. López is actually 5-0 this season, but with his ERA up to 7.41, his roster spot might be in danger. He’s struck out only 10 and given up 14 runs in 17 innings.
Amed Rosario went 3-for-5 with a double, two RBI and a walk against the Guardians on Wednesday.
CJ Abrams, Rosario and James Wood all had three hits from the top three spots in the Nationals order today, but the rest of the lineup combined to go 4-for-21. For Rosario, it was a third three-hit game in 14 starts this season, and he has six RBI in his last three starts. Alas, the Nationals are set to face righties for at least seven games in a row now, so Rosario will probably spend a lot of time on the bench.