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After taking game one, the Baltimore Orioles look to make it two straight over the Philadelphia Phillies. It is now time to continue our MLB odds series with an Orioles-Phillies prediction, pick, and how-to watch.
Yesterday, the Orioles took game one in a fairly dramatic fashion. The scoring started in the top of the second with a solo home run by rookie Jordan Westburg. It was the first of his career and gave the Orioles the lead. Dean Kremer continued to pitch well for the Orioles and gave up his first run on a Kyle Schwarber sacrifice fly. The Orioles re-took the lead in the top of the sixth with a Ryan Mountcastle solo home run. Kremer then finished the bottom of the seventh by giving up just the one run, but the bullpen gave up the lead on a Nick Castellanos single. On that play, Schwarber scored, but Bryce Harper was thrown out on a great assist from Colton Cowser. Cowser then doubled in the top of the ninth to break the tie and give the Orioles the win.
The Orioles have won five of their last six games now and sit at 62-38 on the season. That puts the Orioles 2.5 games up on the Rays in the AL East. With the loss, the Phillies have now lost five of their last six games. The Phillies are now 12 games back of the Braves in the division and a half-game back in the wild-card race.
Here are the Orioles-Phillies MLB odds, courtesy of FanDuel.
MLB Odds: Orioles-Phillies Odds
Baltimore Orioles: +1.5 (-182)
Philadelphia Phillies: -1.5 (+150)
Over: 9.5 (-104)
Under: 9.5 (-118)
How To Watch Orioles vs. Phillies
TV: MASN2/NBCSP
Stream: MLB.TV/ESPN+
Time: 6:40 PM ET/ 3:40 PM PT
*Watch MLB games LIVE with fuboTV (click for a free trial)*
Why The Orioles Could Cover The Spread
The Orioles needed just three runs last night to get the win due to a great performance from Dean Kremer. Pitching has not been the best aspect of their team this year. They are 15th in team ERA, 19th in WHIP, and 20th in opponent batting average. On the hill, today for the Orioles will be Kyle Gibson. He is 9-6 on the season with a 4.76 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP. He has struggled this month overall though. In 24.1 innings of work, he has given up 14 runs, which gives him a 5.18 ERA on the month. Last time out he went six innings and gave up three runs. The Orioles have won the last three times Gibson has been on the mound.
On the offensive end, the Orioles are ninth in the majors in runs scored, 16th in batting average, 15th in on-base percentage, and 9th in slugging. Gunnar Henderson has been driving in a lot of runs this month. While he is hitting just .256 on the month, he has a .344 on-base percentage. Henderson has hit five home runs this month, with two triples and a double. He had 13 RBIs this month and has scored 16 times as well.
Joining Henderson in scoring a lot of runs is Anthony Santander. Not only does he lead the team in RBIs and home runs, but he has also scored 11 times this month. He is hitting .254 on the month, with a .376 on-base percentage. Santander has driven in eight runs this month, with three home runs and five doubles. Still, he has been struggling with strikeouts. In the last six games, he has struck out ten times, with at least one strikeout in each game. Santander has just one hit in his last four games, currently in a 1-16 slump.
While Ryan O'Hearn went 0-1 last night, he is having a solid month. This month, O'Hearn is hitting .340 with 11 RBIs. He has done that with the help of two home runs. He also has four doubles and six runs scored in that time frame, with an OBP of .393. Ryan Mountcastle has also been hitting well. Yesterday he hit his first home run of the month, and that gave him his third RBI. That home run was his first since May 24th. Still, he is hitting well, with a .320 batting average this month, and scoring four times.
Why The Phillies Could Cover The Spread
The Phillies' struggles to get runs across the plate continued last night. While losing five of their last six, they have been shut out twice and scored three or fewer runs two other times. In the last six games, the Phillies have scored just 18 runs, with eight coming in their lone victory. Conversely, in the four-game winning streak before that, the Phillies had scored 26 runs and grabbed four wins.
Overall, they are 16th in the majors in runs scored, tenth in batting average, 14th in on-base percentage, and 11th in slugging. Kyle Schwarber leads the team in home runs and RBIs so far this year. He is tied for fifth in the majors in home runs this year, with 26, while driving in 62 runs. Still, while Schwarber did drive in a run last night, it was his defensive play that may have cost the Phillies the game. Overall, Schwarber is having a solid month. He has 19 RBIs on the month with five home runs and three doubles. Schwarber is hitting just .188 on the month, but that is right about average for him this year.
Nick Castellanos drove in the other run last night but has not been hitting well as of late. While Castellanos does have ten RBIs this month with the help of four home runs, he has been hitting just .179. He is struggling with strikeouts, striking out 25 times this month. Last night broke a five-game streak of striking out at least once, as he struck out nine times in five games. Meanwhile, Bryson Stott is having a great month for the Phillies. He is hitting .339 on the month with two home runs and six RBIs. He also has five doubles and scored 13 times in a month. The most impressive part has been his patience at the plate. He has walked eight times this month and has a .414 on-base percentage this month
On the mound for the Phillies, today will be Taijuan Walker. Walker is 11-4 on the season with a 4.11 ERA. After having an amazing month in June, in which he had a 1.50 ERA and went 5-1, he has waned a little this month. Walker has a 5.00 ERA this month, with two or more runs given up in each game. Still, he has a 2-1 record on the month, and overall is 8-2 in his last ten starts.
Final Orioles-Phillies Prediction & Pick
The pitching edge in this one goes to the Phillies. Kyle Gibson has an ERA of 7.03 in his last six starts and also has one of the highest hard-hit ball rates of his career. While Gibson is a contact-style pitcher, the contact he is giving up has not been good. Meanwhile, Taijuan Walker has been great as of late. His season stats look rough due to a slow start, but if the Phillies can put together some offense, he will get his 12th win of the year. Take the Phillies as the pick over the Orioles in this one.
Final Orioles-Phillies Prediction & Pick: Phillies -1.5 (+150)
