June 13th AL Free Pick for Wednesday
Another Look At the Indians / White Sox Total for Tonight
Intuition won out last night as the Indians / White Sox line movement was moving in the opposite direction indicating a Chicago win and thus a lower scoring affair. The two teams meet back up in the June 13th AL free pick in the third of four games in this series. The Indians had dominated Chicago until last night’s 1-5 loss, but oddsmakers are expecting them to bounce back with Trevor Bauer on the hill (CLE -190). The total of 8.5 is what really sticks out however as the Sox send a pretty good hurler to the bump themselves.
Cleveland Aims to Bounce Back From Poor Offensive Night
The Indians secured last night’s under by only scoring one run while scraping together just 5 hits off White Sox starter James Shields. To be honest the low offensive output shouldn’t have come as a surprise as Cleveland batters have scored 4 runs or less in 8 of the last 10 now. The Indians had a very solid outing on June 10th in a 9-2 win over Detroit, but other than that they’ve been in grind it out games over the last week-plus. Actually Cleveland is just 5-5 over that span, but they still hold a 5 game lead in the AL Central.
One of the main reasons that the June 13th AL free pick could side with the under is the Cleveland offense. Lonnie Chisenhall is the only every day player hitting .300 over the past 7 days. Of course another reason to expect a low scoring affair tonight is because Trevor Bauer (5-4, 2.62 ERA) takes the ball for Cleveland. The righty has allowed 1ER or less in three of his past five starts and has four double digit strikeout games during that span. Tonight marks the first start of 2018 vs. the White Sox for Bauer but he’s held their current lineup to a .225 cumulative average over his career.
Covey Is Very Coveted For Chicago
9 of the last 10 White Sox games have gone ‘under’ the total with one push in there as well. That trend has a great chance of continuing tonight if starter Dylan Covey continues to throw like he has been. The young righty is 2-1 with a 2.22 ERA on the season but has allowed 2 ER or fewer in the last four starts. In fact, he’s surrendered just 3ER total in the last 22.1 IP and has given up 0ER in two straight starts. One of those outings came on May 28th against Cleveland where Covey got a no decision despite allowing just 2ER on 5 hits through 4.1 IP. In total the Indians have just a .214 batting average against the Chicago starter in 28 career AB.
The White Sox offense looked efficient last night, jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the 1st inning led by back-to-back HR from Yoan Moncada and Yolmer Sanchez. Matt Davidson also had a 2-hit night with both being doubles. It was a great outing for a Chicago team that had been held to 2 runs or less in 4 of the 5 games prior. One thing to note about last night’s win was that it came with Adam Plutko on the hill for Cleveland – a pitcher who had just been called up from the minor leagues. This should be different with Bauer on the mound in the June 13th AL free pick.
June 13th AL Free PIck Betting
Everything about this game is screaming towards the ‘under’ which is why a great contrarian play would be on the ‘over.’ That being said with the combination of great pitching on both sides of the diamond and some offenses that have both been in a bit of a funk lately the reasonable wager is for another low scoring affair.
Free Pick: Cleveland Indians / Chicago White Sox *Under* 8.5
