Rookie Mike Leake and the Reds are favored in baseball betting on Tuesday as they host the Pittsburgh Pirates. Leake has yet to lose this season at 4-0 and he is a heavy favorite in MLB betting to get win number five on Tuesday night against the Pirates.
Baseball betting odds favor the Reds with their red-hot rookie. Leake is 4-0 on the season with a 2.91 ERA. He should be 5-0 but the bullpen blew his last start in an inexplicable 10-9 loss to Atlanta when the Braves scored seven runs in the ninth inning. Leake is trying to become the first Cincinnati pitcher to start a season 5-0 since Santo Alcala did it in 1976. Leake allowed just one earned run against the Braves, giving up five hits while striking out six and walking just one. He also had two hits in that game and he is now batting.353. Leake has gone at least six innings in every start this season.
Pittsburgh will go with Paul Maholm on Tuesday. He is 3-4 on the season with a 4.50 ERA. He pitched well last time out against Milwaukee but still got the loss. He allowed four runs on four hits and had seven strikeouts.
The Reds have pretty much owned the Reds recently in baseball betting. Before yesterday’s game, the Reds had won 14 of the last 20 against Pittsburgh. This is already the third series between the teams this season but the first in Cincinnati. The Pirates swept the Reds in April but the Reds turned the table just a couple of weeks ago. The Pirates scored a total of one run in the three losses at home earlier this month against the Reds. Two of those three games went under the total.
In the last two series between the teams at Cincinnati it has been all Reds. Cincinnati has won six of the last seven games at home against the Pirates in baseball betting. A similar result could be in store in this series considering how well the Reds have played this season. The Pirates are 8-13 on the road this season but they have at least been competitive for the most part. Pittsburgh is always a big underdog on the road in baseball betting so winning just one game in a series sometimes good enough to break even vs. the MLB betting odds.