Erick Fedde

CHICAGO (AP) Gavin Sheets homered, Erick Fedde pitched scoreless ball into the sixth inning and the struggling Chicago White Sox edged the Kansas City Royals 2-1 on Wednesday for a doubleheader split that ended a six-game slide. Salvador Perez hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning of the opener to put the Royals ahead, and Kansas City went...

Find year-round coverage of betting news and insights for all sports by visiting our Betting section and subscribing to push notifications.It was another good night on the diamond. The Yankees won the first five innings by multiple runs while we split our pitching props, giving us a profitable 2-1 evening and pushing our weekly record to 5-1.Let's dive into a few standout plays for Wednesday's card as we look to build on a strong start to the week.Cubs (+120) @ Padres (-140)The Cubs are a better team than the Padres, but the latter are in a much better position for success Wednesday night.San Diego will have ace Dylan Cease on the mound, while Chicago sends struggling veteran Kyle Hendricks to the bump.Cease has pitched very well thus far, sporting a 3.38 ERA, 30.2 K%, and .263 xwOBA through his first two starts with his new club.He has electric stuff and should be able to challenge this Cubs' offense rather than dancing around it and trying to be perfect. Completely neutralizing the Cubs is unrealistic, but Cease stands a good chance of slowing them down.If Cease can do that, the Padres will be in good shape. Led by Fernando Tatis and Manny Machado, the team ranks ninth in homers and 11th in xwOBA against right-handed pitching. The Padres are hitting well above the league average, getting on base and hitting for power.They should be able to accomplish both of those things against Hendricks. He is struggling with his control thus far, throwing called balls at the same rate as strikes through two starts.His location has been erratic and teams have feasted on him when making contact. Hendricks has allowed a .448 xwOBA and 12.1% barrel rate, alarmingly bad numbers.The Padres' offense can take advantage of Hendricks' shortcomings and give Cease all the run support he needs to put the Padres in a great position.Look for the Padres' bats to power them to victory.Bet: Padres (-140)Austin Gomber: Over 1.5 walksGomber is a walk machine. He walked at least two batters in five of his last six starts a season ago and has picked up where he left off, walking six batters over his first two games in 2024.He's struggled versus righties in particular. The Rockies hurler has walked 16.7% of right-handed batters faced through two starts, more than double the MLB average.Control issues don't set Gomber up for success against the Diamondbacks. They are notoriously disciplined at the plate, walking multiple times versus eight of the past 11 left-handed starters faced. That includes a three-walk effort against Gomber less than two weeks ago.I don't see any reason to expect different this time around.Odds: -135 (playable to -150)Erick Fedde: Over 1.5 walksFedde has shown some command issues early on in the year. His strike percentage is only 3% higher than his ball percentage, and he has fared even worse against left-handed hitters.Fedde has thrown more called balls than strikes against lefties. He has also walked just under 16% of left-handed batters. The Guardians feature a very left-handed heavy lineup. Steven Kwan, Andr s Gim nez, Josh Naylor, and Will Brennan - four of the team's best hitters - are lefties. Jos Ram rez is also a switch hitter.Cleveland is very disciplined at the plate and does not strike out very often. Given Fedde's control issues, this is a matchup where the lineup should draw multiple free passes.Odds: -125 (playable to -140)Todd Cordell is a sports betting writer at theScore. You can follow him on X at @ToddCordell.Copyright © 2024 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Welcome back to "Are You For Real?", a weekly column where we take starting pitchers who had surprisingly good starts over the past week and put them under the microscope to determine whether they're legit or just smoke and mirrors. We had plenty of great performances this week, including a no-hitter from unheralded Houston righty... Read More

Find year-round coverage of betting news and insights for all sports by visiting our Betting section and subscribing to push notifications.We have an exciting 13-game slate on the docket to begin the week. Let's waste no time in getting to our best bets.Diamondbacks (-185) @ Rockies (+155)The Diamondbacks opened the season with a four-game set against the Rockies and beat them into the ground, winning 32-15 on aggregate.I expect this game to be rather one-sided as well, particularly early on. Led by Ketel Marte and Christian Walker, the Diamondbacks mash left-handed pitching. They're hitting .319 with a .344 xwOBA and 81.1% contact rate, ranking third or higher in each category.Now they're drawing a struggling lefty - Kyle Freeland - in the most hitter-friendly environment MLB offers: Coors Field.Freeland has thrown as many called balls as strikes. He has an astronomically high barrel rate of 16.1% and sports an xwOBA above .500. You'd be hard-pressed to find a starter with worse numbers.The Diamondbacks lit up Freeland when they played earlier this season, generating 10 runs in fewer than three innings of work.I wouldn't expect that level of offense again, but it's possible given how well the Diamondbacks are hitting lefties and considering Freeland's struggles.Arizona should be able to plate at least a few runs over the first five innings. If that happens, they have a great chance of cashing in on an early lead with Zac Gallen on the mound.Gallen is one of the best starters in baseball, and only five teams own a worse xwOBA versus righties than the Rockies. It'll be very difficult for them to keep up offensively.Expect the Diamondbacks to get to Freeland early and often and earn a lead through five innings - likely by multiple runs.Odds: -125 (playable to -140)Blake Snell: Under 6.5 strikeouts Snell was a lethal strikeout pitcher last season. He piled up 7.3 strikeouts per start while throwing just under an average of 100 pitches.He didn't make any rehab starts after signing with the Giants and has only thrown in scrimmages and simulated games. He's expected to carry a pitch count in the ballpark of 70.Seven strikeouts is an awful lot to ask for someone who averaged that number throwing 25-30 more pitches than he'll get in this game.Even if Snell isn't rusty and hits his spots, this is a difficult matchup for him to hit his ceiling.The Nationals have struck out just over 19% of the time against left-handed pitchers, one of the lowest marks in the league. They posted a 17.6 K% against lefties last season, so it's not as if their results are unsustainable.With Snell on a pitch count against a disciplined offense, it'll be difficult for him to match the efficiency he produced last season.Odds: -125 (playable to -160)Mitch Keller: Over 5.5 strikeoutsKeller averaged 6.56 strikeouts per start in 2023 and exceeded 5.5 Ks over 60% of the time.He's 0-for-2 to start the season, but both of his starts were against teams outside the top 15 in strikeout rate.Keller still managed to post some encouraging numbers beneath the hood. He generated swinging strikes on more than 14% of his pitches, good for third among all of the day's projected starters.The Tigers have done a much better job at avoiding strikeouts thus far, but that likely has a lot to do with the level of competition faced. As far as right-handed starters go, the Tigers have faced Joe Boyle, Paul Blackburn, Adrian Houser, Erick Fedde, and Michael Soroka. That batch isn't exactly known for throwing strikes.Keller is a big step up in class. I expect him to put forth his best strikeout performance of the campaign while clearing this number for the first time of many.Odds: -125 (playable to -140)Todd Cordell is a sports betting writer at theScore. You can follow him on X at @ToddCordell.Copyright © 2024 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

White Sox starter Erick Fedde worked five innings, allowing a run on six hits and two walks, with four strikeouts