Michael Cannon
Saturday's Plays... 15 Dime ORIOLES (With Kawakami and Hill as listed pitchers)Take the Orioles for the home win over the Braves.I know it may seem puzzling to some, but I believe Rich Hill will have a tremendous bounce back start tonight after getting destroyed by Oakland in his last start. The left-hander couldn?t get out of the first inning and allowed three runs while walking four batters.But Hill has enjoyed success against the Braves in his career, going 3-0 with a 0.94 ERA in four games. He has allowed just 17 hits and has 30 strikeouts in 28 2-3 innings over that span.Atlanta will counter with Kenshin Kawakami, who is 3-6 on the year with a 4.62 ERA. The right-hander seems snake bit right now and with Hill?s success against the Braves I wouldn?t be surprised to see Atlanta stymied again tonight. Kawakami started the year off by getting rocked, then settled into a decent groove but can?t get any run support. If he does get the support, the bullpen blows it for him.Too much bad karma right now surrounding him.Take the Orioles as they grab the home win.
5 Dime REDS (With Arroyo and Davies as listed pitchers)Take the Reds for the road win over the Royals.Kansas City, despite winning last night, is just in an awful funk right now. The Royals have gone 8-23 since May 7, with a team batting average of .233 and a 4.84 ERA in those 31 games.Kyle Davies will start and he is currently riding a career-high five-game losing streak. He has received just six total runs of support during that slide and that trend will probably continue tonight.The Reds counter with Bronson Arroyo, who is 7-4 on the year despite a 5.00 ERA. The reason for his solid record obviously is the run support he gets, so look for the Reds bats to come through tonight against Davies.Take the Reds as they grab the road win