Phillies vs. Reds prediction and odds for Friday, April 14 (Walker will begin to improve)
By Josh Yourish
Both teams that played in the 2022 World Series started the 2023 season off under .500. The Astros seem to have righted the ship, but the Philadelphia Phillies are fighting injuries and an NLCS hangover as they prepare for Game 2 of this weekend series in Ohio against the Cincinnati Reds.
The Reds are ,unsurprisingly, under .500 too and maybe this could be the series that jumpstarts Philadelphia. The Phillies hand the ball to Taijuan Walker for his third start of the season and the Reds have Connor Overton on the mound. Let’s get into the odds for this Friday night, NL matchup in Cincy.
Phillies vs. Reds odds, run line and total
Phillies vs. Reds prediction and pick
Taijuan Walker was a solid piece of the Mets rotation last season and the Phillies decided to bring him in from their division rival. Through his two starts, he’s pitched 9.0 innings and allowed six earned runs with eight walks and 10 strikeouts. That’s a 6.00 ERA, but a 5.29 FIP. His lower FIP makes me wonder how good the Philly defense is behind him and that could be a problem all season. Right now, they just need Walker to get back to the version of himself that had a 3.49 ERA across 29 starts last season.
On the other side, Connor Overton has been even worse than Walker. He has an ERA over 10, but with a FIP of 5.90. Last season with Cincinnati he pitched 33.0 innings and had a 2.73 ERA, so there could be better things coming for both pitchers in this matchup. The Reds offense has been strong early in games averaging 1.00 first inning runs a game, but after that they aren’t scoring a lot. Cincy is 24th in runs and 17th in OPS. That’s even overachieving for the talent in this lineup.
I think both pitchers are going to improve after a shaky start, so I’ll take the under in this game.
Follow all Josh Yourish’s bets HERE
Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change