Los Angeles Dodgers (94-53) vs. Cincinnati Reds (76-71)
September 17, 2021 7:10 pm EDT
The Line: Cincinnati Reds +145 / Los Angeles Dodgers -196; Over/Under: 8.5
(Get latest betting odds)
The Los Angeles Dodgers and the Cincinnati Reds meet in MLB action from Great American Ballpark on Friday night.
The Los Angeles Dodgers will look to build on their 5-3 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks from Wednesday night. Gavin Lux led the way with a pair of hits and two RBIs while Max Muncy had a solo home run. Cody Bellinger and Trea Turner each had an RBI as well to finish off the scoring for the Dodgers in the winning effort while Will Smith and Mookie Betts each had two hits with a double. Justin Turner added three hits as well and Corey Seager had a base hit as well to cap off the offense for the Dodgers in the win. Julio Urias got the win to improve to 18-3 on the year after allowing two runs on three hits while striking out five over five innings of work. Kenley Jansen closed the 9th for his 33rd save of the season. Walker Buehler will start here and is 14-3 with a 2.32 ERA and 189 strikeouts this season.
The Cincinnati Reds will attempt to build off of their 1-0 win over the Pirates from Thursday. Asdrubal Cabrera had the lone RBI for the Reds in the winning effort while Joey Votto, Tyler Stephenson and Shogo Akiyama all had base hits as well in the winning effort for the Reds. Kyle Farmer and Max Schrock each had base hits as well to cap off the offense for the Reds as Cincinnati had just five hits as a team in the win. Tyler Mahle got the win to improve to 12-5 on the year after tossing six shutout innings, allowing just five hits while striking out four. Mychal Givens closed the 9th for his 8th save. Luis Castillo will start here and is 7-15 with a 4.24 ERA and 171 strikeouts this season.
Los Angeles is 13-5 in their last 18 road games and 21-6 in their last 27 games against a team with a winning record while the under is 4-0 in their last 4 Friday games. Cincinnati is 24-8 in their last 32 Friday games and 8-22 in their last 30 games as a home underdog while the over is 4-1 in their last 5 home games.
I get why the Dodgers would be favored here with Buehler on the bump as Castillo’s regressed a fair bit since his hot stretch in the middle of the season. However, I’m looking at the under here, simply because we have two teams that are in dire need of a win right now, with the Dodgers chasing down the Giants for the division title and the Reds on the hunt to crack the wild card spots. I think this game is shaping up to be a battle, and I could definitely see a low-scoring affair here.
