The Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves continue a weekday series as the Phillies try to play themselves back into good standing in the National League playoff picture.
Philadelphia will hope that Aaron Nola can pitch to his lofty expectations on Wednesday against one of the best lineups in baseball, the first place Braves. Atlanta took the first game in more of a defensive struggle, 4-2, will this game feature more offense?
Here are the odds for Wednesday's matchup:
Braves vs. Phillies odds, run line and total
Braves vs. Phillies prediction and pick
These are two of the best offenses in baseball of late. Atlanta is the best hitting unit in the bigs since the start of June, hitting .312 in 17 games while Philly checks in fourth at .272.
The Phillies will get a chance to face AJ Smith-Shawver, who has made two big league starts so far. While he has one shutout outing and a decent one in which he allowed three earned runs in 5.2 innings, I believe he's in trouble against this Phillies lineup that will cash in on his inability to generate strikeouts, only 11 in about 13 innings of work.
However, I can't trust Nola given his diminishing velocity on the mound. Nola was never known for his strikeout prowess, but he has dipped off considerably this season, striking out less than nine per nine innings and it has led to his hard hit rate to sky rocket. He is allowing home runs on nearly 14% of fly balls in play this season and a career high 1.43 homers per nine innings.
Both offenses are dominating at the plate, and I can't trust either pitcher. I'm siding with the over.
Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.