Cleveland Guardians Home Opener Betting Preview: Guardians vs. Giants Bet Picks

The Cleveland Guardians will host the San Francisco Giants on Friday for a 7:10 p.m. first pitch for their first home series of the season. The Guardians have catapulted themselves into first place by splitting their first series of the season against the Kansas City Royals and sweeping the Cincinnati Reds in their quick two-game series.

They are 4-2 now and riding a nice four-game winning streak early on in the season.

The Giants are also 4-2 and are in first place in the NL West. They’ve won both of their first two series so far this season, including two games against the Miami Marlins and two games against the San Diego Padres. This will be their first time on the road this season.

Let’s look ahead at this Friday night matchup between two first-place teams.

Odds

San Francisco are the favorites in this matchup with odds of +110 to cover the -1.5 run spread. Cleveland has odds of -130 at +1.5 runs. The over/under for the game is set at 8 with odds of -115 to bet the over and -105 to bet the under.

In terms of moneyline, the Giants have odds of -145 to win, and the Guardians have odds of +125. In the series, the Giants’ odds are -130 to win, and the Guardians are at +110.

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Expected Pitching Matchup

Cleveland right-hander Zach Plesac is expected to take the mound for his second start of the season. In his first game out, Plesac went 5.2 innings striking out three and giving up no runs.

He will be looking to continue this effort in front of his home crowd on Friday night. Last season, he went 10-6 and posed at 4.67 ERA and hit the century mark on strikeouts.

Left-hander Carlos Rodon is expected to start for the Giants. This is his first season starting for the Giants after playing his whole career with the Chicago White Sox.

Last season, he had a 2.37 ERA and went 13-5 on the year. In his first outing of the season, he gave up one run in five innings but struck out an impressive 12 batters.

Injury Report

The Guardians aren’t dealing with too many major injuries besides left fielder Josh Naylor who is on the 10-day IL with issues with his lower leg but could be back very shortly.

For the Giants, pitcher Carson Ragsdale is day-to-day along with relief pitcher Tyler Rodgers who is on paternity leave. Evan Longoria and Tommy La Stella are on the 10-day IL, and shortstop Brandon Crawford is day-to-day.

Expected Outcome

I expect the Guardians to cover and win this game. It will be tough against a pitcher like Rodon, but with it being so early in the season, the Giants won’t keep him past the fifth or sixth inning.

Plesac, on the other side, will not make it easy on the Giants. I like the Guardians at home to not only cover but win the game to extend their winning streak.