Baltimore Orioles vs. Cincinnati Reds July 29 Friday Bet Preview

The Cincinnati Reds will host the Baltimore Orioles for a three game series starting Friday night at 6:40 p.m. at Great American Ballpark. 

The Reds are coming off a series split with the Miami Marlins earlier this week. The Orioles were able to sweep the Tampa Bay Rays in a four game series.

Both teams are 5-5 in their past ten games. The Reds sit at the bottom of the NL Central, 16.5 games behind first place. They are 1.5 games behind the next worst team, the Pittsburgh Pirates, who are in fourth in the division. 

The Orioles are in fourth in the tough AL East. They are also 16.5 games behind the first place Yankees and only a half a game ahead of the Boston Red Sox.

Orioles vs. Reds July 29 Odds

Despite playing on the road at Great American Ballpark, the Orioles are betting favorites in this game. The over/under run total is set at 9.5 runs.

The Orioles have a record of 50-49 compared to the Reds who have an overall record of 38-60 which gives the Orioles the clear advantage overall this season.

At home this year, the Reds are 22-31 which is fairly close to the Orioles’ 21-29 when they are out of town. With both teams getting similar results since the All Star break, it wouldn’t surprise me if the line moves with the pitching matchups game by game.

Expected Pitching Matchup

One reason the line might not be out yet is because Baltimore has not announced any of their pitchers in this series. For the Reds, Mike Minor is expected to take the mound in game one. Tyler Mahle and Nick Lodolo will finish off the series for the Reds in games two and three.

Minor has struggled greatly this season with his record of 1-7 with a 6.65 ERA and 41 strikeouts. He picked up his seventh loss of the season last week against the St. Louis Cardinals where he gave up five runs on eight hits in only four innings. He also walked four and only struck out three batters in that appearance.

Expected Outcome

With the series outcome riding greatly on the shoulders of the pitching matchups, this series will be hard to call without knowing who will be opposing Mark Minor in game one or either of the other two pitchers in the second two games of the series.

With just looking at Minor, I am going to expect that the Orioles will have the upperhand and win game one of the series. Games two and three will be toss-ups because Mahle and Lodolo have had a decent season so far. I see the Reds winning one out of the three games and losing this series at home to the Orioles.

Will the Reds prove me wrong or are we back to the same old Reds who don’t have the talent to impress fans?

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