Cappers Sports Picks

Rating: 2 Units

The Hornets have won 4 of 6 including a clever win over Milwaukee on Friday. In that game five Charlotte players had at least 18 points. Charlotte is currently in position to have home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs but they need to compete nightly as they have 6 teams climbing down their neck. One of the best assets for the Hornets is they share the ball as only 4 clubs have more assists on average. Atlanta doesn’t match up great with Charlotte. They lost back-to-back games to the Hornets early in the season by an average margin of 8 points.

Rating: 2 Units

Pitcher: Allen

Allen, who won a rotation spot with the Cleveland Indians in spring training, will make his second start this season against the visiting Detroit Tigers today. The lone left-hander in the rotation, Allen held Kansas City to two runs in five innings on Monday but was charged with the loss as the Indians were blanked. Allen prepared himself for a run at a rotation spot by shedding weight and working on his mechanics. The result was an 0.64 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 14 spring training innings.  Allen became Cleveland's first left-handed starter since Ryan Merritt in 2017. He retired nine of the last 10 batters he faced. Jose Urena will start for Detroit. Urena's Tigers debut on Monday was a disaster, as he allowed six runs (five earned) and four hits with four walks in three innings to Minnesota. Cleveland has slugged its way to victories in the first two games of the series. Designated hitter Franmil Reyes has blasted three homers, and the Indians clubbed a total of five long balls in their 11-3 win on Saturday.

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Rating: 2 Units

Pitcher: Flexen

Pitchers who’ve escaped the misery of being a Met are doing rather well. Steven Matz is 2-0 with Toronto and Chris Flexen pitched 5 innings of 4-hit, shutout ball vs. the Giants in his first start for the Mariners last Saturday. He’s mostly a mystery to the Twins batters, who’ve never faced him at this level. Matt Shoemaker won’t always get 15 runs worth of support while pitching in his hometown against the team he’s dominated (Detroit), as was the case in his last start. Although Shoemaker pitched in Seattle’s division with the Angels, only Kyle Seager and Mitch Haniger have ever faced him. Seager must be thinking, ‘Yeah, you’re that ordinary guy with the long black beard and if a mediocre veteran like me, a .255 lifetime hitter who actually hasn’t hit for an average that high since 2016 could hit 2 home runs against you in his career, then my teammates should be able to tag you well enough.’

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Rating: 2 Units

Pitcher: Ponce de Leon

The Brewers pushed across an average of only 4.02 runs per game in 2020, #26 in the 30-team MLB. So far this season, they’re scoring less, 3.62 runs per game. The pitcher they face, Daniel Ponce de Leon, has been near dominant against them in limited exposure: 36 at bats, 3 singles allowed, 15 Ks to 4 BB. That’s a .057 Batting Average, .157 OPS. The Cardinals’ Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmitt are hitting .556 and .400 against Brewers’ starter Brett Anderson. That’s a tough 2-3 in the home team’s batting order for the guy to try to get past.

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Rating: 2 Units