The Astros won a thriller in extra innings on Tuesday night as the daily free play. I’ll turn to the Freeway Series for the Wednesday comp.
DODGERS (Bolsinger) at ANGELS (Tropeano)
Take: DODGERS +100
Mike Bolsinger is getting the callup to the Dodgers for a spot start tonight. Bolsinger just recently got back into action after starting the season on the shelf with an oblique injury. This could be a one and done for the righty as the consensus is he’ll be optioned back out following tonight’s appearance. But if Bolsinger comes through with a good performance, that would seemingly have a chance to change.
Bolsinger surprised me last season, as I honestly didn’t look at him as a regular rotation guy at this level. Fact is, if you look at what Bolsinger throws and the similarity in his pitches, he really shouldn’t be succeeding at this level. But Bolsinger was pretty respectable last season, and he might just be one of those guys who is able to find a way to exceed general expectations.
Nick Tropeano gets the call for the Halos tonight. Tropeano’s success or failure is very dependent on first pitch strikes. He does a good job nibbling and generating bad swings when he’s ahead on the count. But Tropeano does not have dominant stuff and when he has to try and beat hitters in the zone, things don’t go well at all. He’s been having trouble keeping pitch counts down and as a result Tropeano is not finding himself able to get past the fifth inning. All save of his 2016 starts have ended short of six complete innings. That means multiple innings for an Angels bullpen that isn’t the most reliable on the planet these days and has also been shouldering a heavy workload.
The Angels had their surprising winning streak snapped last night. Credit where it’s due, the Halos really showed some grit in grabbing a stunning sweep at Seattle over the weekend and followed that with an exciting win over the Dodgers on Monday night. But the bats were silenced last night by the inimitable Clayton Kershaw and while Bolsinger is hardly in that class, I’m not averse to fading the Angels now that the mini-run concluded. Granted, it’s off last year’s number for Bolsinger, but I give him an edge over Tropeano and most of the other check marks are on the road team’s side as well.
Chances are I’ll have to sweat that high risk Dodger bullpen bridge to Kenley Jansen. Nevertheless I make the Dodgers the favorite here and at even money or better, they’re the side for me tonight.
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My 2* MLB Grinder Best Bet is up for Wednesday.