Scott Rickenbach

Contrarian Crusher Total - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #927 Tuesday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Texas Rangers vs Arizona Diamondbacks @ 8:05 ET - No team in the American League has scored more runs at home than Texas. No team in the National League has a higher slugging percentage on the road than Arizona. The point is that both these teams can be expected to do plenty of damage here. I know that Alex Young has pitched very well for the Diamondbacks but his MLB action has been limited. He has made 3 starts and one was at home and the other two were both at pitcher friendly venues. Young is making his first ever "tough venue" road start and I expect the southpaw to finally come back down to earth after his surprising success at the MLB level. Keep in mind, Young had a combined 6.00 ERA in 40 appearances (20 starts) at the AAA level of the minors before his call up this season. Both last year and this year at the AAA level were not impressive for the young left-hander. As for Rangers starter Lance Lynn, he has pitched well this season but he has given up 15 hits in 14 innings in his two July starts - both at home. Also, in his final home start of June he allowed 5 earned runs in 7 innings. Even though this is an interleague game, the Diamondbacks did face Lynn earlier this season. They will fare much better now that they're seeing him for a 2nd time this season. The over is 23-13 this season when Arizona is a road underdog. Also, in road games with a posted total of 10 or 10.5 runs, the Diamondbacks are 3-1 to the over. Texas is 12-6 to the over this season when off a loss by a margin of 4 or more runs. The Rangers are also 8-3 to the over their last 11 games and 10-4 to the over in Tuesday games this season. 10* OVER the total in Texas

Earliest Cash Total - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #925 Tuesday 8* OVER the total in Baltimore Orioles vs Washington Nationals @ 7:05 ET - Austin Voth gets the start for the Nationals. In 7 games (5 starts) at the MLB level, Voth has a 6.00 ERA. He faces an Orioles team that, though they are in the basement of the AL East, does have a tendency to swing the bats better when at home. Baltimore struggled in their 4-game series with the Rays but, in their previous 7 games at home the Orioles averaged scoring 6 runs per game. The Nationals enter this series off a rather tight, low-scoring series with the division rival Phillies. However, their prior 8 road games saw Washington score an average of 6 runs per game. The Nats will take advantage of facing a struggling Asher Wojciechowski. The right-hander has had a rough time at the MLB level just like Voth has thus far. Asher Wojciechowski has a 6.57 ERA in his 33 appearances (13 starts) at the MLB level. The over is 4-1-1 this season when the Nationals are a road favorite of -175 or more. The over is 6-1-1 the last 8 times Washington was on the road with a posted total of 11 or 11.5 runs. The over is 7-2 this season when the Nats are playing after a day off. The over is 19-7 this season when the Nationals are off of 3 consecutive games versus a division rival and also a perfect 4-0 when off a one-run loss to a division rival. Baltimore is 6-2 to the over in interleague action this season. The Orioles, as a home underdog of +150 to +200, are 14-2 to the over this season! More of the same expected here. 8* OVER the total in Baltimore

Earliest Cash Total - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #975 Wednesday 8* OVER the total in Minnesota Twins vs New York Mets @ 1:10 ET - This match-up features a pair of southpaws as Jason Vargas goes for the Mets and the Twins go with Martin Perez. This should lead to plenty of runs in this one as these are two of the top hitting teams in the majors against left-handed pitching. Minnesota is at the very top with a .294 batting average while New York ranks a solid 5th out of all 30 teams with a .273 batting average against lefties. The Mets Vargas has a 5.10 ERA in his road starts this season and only 3 of his 9 starts away from home have resulted in an under. As for the Twins Perez, he has allowed 4 earned runs or more in 4 of his last 5 starts even though he averaged only 5 and 2/3 innings per start in those four outings. Vargas has averaged only 5 innings per start in his last 5 starts and another short outing today would expose a Mets bullpen that is one of the worst in the majors. New York's over is 25-10 as a road underdog of +150 to +200 even including yesterday's rare under in that role. The over is 8-4 this season in Twins Wednesday games. This Wednesday game is getaway day for the Mets as they head to San Francisco after this one. Look for a slugfest to precede their trip west! 8* OVER the total in Minnesota