Cincinnati Reds vs. Philadelphia Phillies August 13 Betting Preview

Two National League postseason hopefuls will square off for the first of three on Friday as the Cincinnati Reds (62-54) take on the Philadelphia Phillies (60-55). The Phillies will host this one at Citizens Bank Park, with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 pm ET.

Despite having a better record, the Reds are in worse shape for a postseason run than Philadelphia. Cincinnati is currently eight games back in the NL Central and four games back in the Wild Card. The Phillies currently sit half a game up in the NL. East for first place.

Cincinnati comes into this one after dropping two out of three to the Atlanta Braves to start the week. They did manage to salvage the finale Thursday with a 12-3 victory. In the win, Jesse Winker hit a grand slam, his 24th homer of the season.

The Phillies also dropped two of three to start the week to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Like the Reds, they were able to win the finale, 2-1, behind 4.2 scoreless innings from their bullpen. Bryce Harper hit his 21st home run of the season in the win as well.

Philadelphia is the favorite to win playing at home. They are -198 to win while the Reds’ moneyline sits at +166. The runline features Cincinnati +1.5 (-128), and the over/under for total runs is 8.5.

Pitching Matchup

Cincinnati will send Tyler Mahle (9-3, 3.78 ERA) to the mound in the opener of this series. In his last seven games, Mahle is 2-0 with a 3.89 ERA. In his last start, he pitched seven innings against the Pirates, allowing just two runs and striking out 10.

The Phillies will send the odds-on-favorite to win the NL. Cy Young Award in Zack Wheeler (+165 to win). On the season, he is 10-6 with a 2.42 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, and has 181 strikeouts in 156 innings pitched.

By The Number

The Reds have been one of the best teams in baseball this season in terms of scoring. They currently rank fifth, averaging 4.99 runs per game (4.42 on the road). Philadelphia ranks 14th, averaging 4.56 runs per game.

Defensively, the Phillies have been the stronger of the two teams. They rank 19th in scoring defense, allowing 4.70 runs per game. The Reds rank 23rd, allowing 4.88 runs per game (4.35 on the road).

Reds Try To Hang Onto Postseason Hope

With only 46 games left in the season, the Cincinnati Reds don’t have a whole lot of time to waste if they want to make a push towards the playoffs. With the Wild Card being the more likely route, they definitely need to start winning the series in a hurry.

The Reds have their work cut out for them as they tackle Zack Wheeler on Friday. In his career, Nick Castellanos has had some success against the righty as he is two for three with a home run. On the season, Castellanos is currently hitting .319/.375/.563 with 19 home runs and 62 runs batted in.

Over the last week, Jesse Winker has been the hottest hitter on the team. In that span, he is hitting .476/.621/1.095 with three home runs and 11 runs batted in. Joey Votto has three home runs and eight runs batted in over that same time period.

Phillies Hope To Create Separation In NL. East

With three teams (Phillies, Mets, Braves) separated by just a single game, the NL. East may be one of the most interesting divisions coming down to the wire.

Against a tough team like the Reds, Philadelphia is happy to be playing at home. This season, the Phillies are a strong 35-23 at home while being just 25-32 on the road. Having won eight of their last ten games, though, the Phillies will look to stay hot on Friday.

Leading the way offensively for the Phillies is outfielder Bryce Harper. On the season, he is hitting .298/.413/.568 with 21 home runs, 46 runs batted in, 67 runs scored, and 12 stolen bases.

While Harper only has three hits over the last week for the Phillies, all three of them have been home runs, so that the Reds are certainly going to have to pitch him carefully.

Reds Have To Figure Wheeler Out

If the Reds are going to win the opener of this series, they are going to have to earn it. Wheeler has been outstanding all year long and was especially dominant in his last start (9 innings, 0 runs allowed, 2 hits allowed, 11 strikeouts).

Luckily for Cincinnati, they have the offense to put pressure on Wheeler and have a pitcher in Tyler Mahle that has been outstanding himself.

Friday should be a fun matchup between two teams in the postseason hunt and two pitchers that have had great seasons.

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