Rodon, Smyly Have Edge Over Hitters

Giants vs. Cubs 4:05 ET

After a really nice streak, I find myself looking back at the last three days and wondering what went wrong. There was the snafu with the scratched starter in Baltimore - that's bad luck. There were some bad calls (yesterday's Marlins/Phillies), and some have been fine but not great. Overall, we are 3-6 the last three days, that won't work for me, so let's get some of that back.

Carlos Rodon has been as good as almost anyone this season. Sure, there have been some hiccups, but as far as a reliable starter that is keeping the team in situations to win, Rodon is exactly what San Francisco needs. Rodon hasn't been as good on the road as he has been in his home starts. The road starts aren't really awful or anything, he has a 3.52 ERA, but that's a full run higher than his home starts. He's been in a groove lately posting four quality starts in his last five outings. He faced the Cubs once this season and cruised through seven innings allowing just two hits and no earned runs. He also was able to strike out ten hitters in the game. His past two road starts have been solid as well - but he faced the Athletics and Tigers.

Drew Smyly has been solid for the Cubs this year and turned in an outstanding August. In 30 innings he allowed just three earned runs. The calendar changed and bam, he gets rocked in his last outing. He allowed seven earned runs in 2.1 innings. Despite his great pitching recently, the Cubs were just 3-2 in his August starts and have gone 4-6 in the last 10 Smyly starts. He does seem to do a better job with being at Wrigley Field. In his home starts, he's only allowed 11 earned runs in 34.2 innings. He faced the Giants in one road game this year and allowed 5 earned runs in four innings.

Neither team comes into this game particularly hot. The Cubs are just 2-8 over their last 10 games while the Giants are 4-6. I do think that even with Rodon not being as good on the road, we should see him be able to stifle the Cubs enough. I'm going to take the under 8 runs in the game at -120.

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