Cleveland and Cincinnati continue their interstate rivalry on Saturday in MLB betting with Justin Masterson scheduled to take the mound against Aaron Harang.
There could be a lot of runs scored on Saturday in this baseball betting matchup since neither of these pitchers has been very good this season.
MLB betting odds favor the Reds since they are at home. Cincinnati has been solid at home while the Indians have struggled on the road. Masterson is 2-6 on the season with a 4.87 ERA. He has the ability to make quality starts but he is very inconsistent. Last time out against Pittsburgh he committed a big error that led to problems but he still went six innings.
Harang is almost as inconsistent as Masterson. He has lost his last two starts after getting back to 5-5. His ERA is 5.17 on the season. Last time out he pitched well as he gave up just one run on six innings to the Mariners but lost. Harang is 3-2 in his career against the Indians with a 2.84 ERA.
The Reds took two of three from Cleveland last month, winning 6-4 and 7-4 while losing 4-3. Those three games were in Cleveland. Two of those went over the total in MLB betting. Last year when the teams met in Cincinnati, the Reds won two of three.
Cleveland has been poor this season at home and on the road. The Indians simply don’t have the talent to win on a consistent basis. They can occasionally get good pitching and sometimes they can score enough runs but far too often they don’t get enough of either. What hurts the Indians in Interleague road games is that they don’t have designated hitter Travis Hafner. That usually means they struggle even more to score runs.
The Reds have been solid at home this season and they are a solid favorite to beat the Indians in baseball betting. Cincinnati can score runs as they are 7th in the league. The problem for the Reds is that they don’t always get quality starts. Cincinnati is well below average this season in ERA. Harang has been part of the problem so they need him to start giving the team good starts every time out.