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Taking the mound Tuesday in Cincinnati for the Reds will be Mike Leake, and for the Padres Andrew Cashner. Both have had their share of success early on in the 2014 season. San Diego is coming off an impressive revival of their bats in taking the series over the Miami Marlins. That series was at home. Things may be turn back to their old ways for the Padres bats in Cincinnati.

Mike Leake on the other hand has had good outings spoiled. He has had a penchant for giving up home runs beyond the fourth inning. It’s something he has to control if the Reds are going to be able to rely on him as an ace pitcher.

That shouldn’t be a problem tonight against a Padres lineup that doesn’t scare many pitchers. Look for this to be a low scoring game. Take the under on 7.5 runs. This likely will get to 7 before the game starts. If you’re looking for money value wait for that line move, as I don’t believe more than four runs will be scored here tonight.

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Walk off wins are great for nightly Sportscenter highlights, but a pain in the rear end for sports bettors. Often times a walk off comes in a game where runs were hard to come by. There are the occasion blown innings by the bullpen, but by and large they come in tight games.

Miami has won three of there last four games in walk off fashion. Doing so by scoring three runs in the bottom of the 8th against the Mets, a rally against the Dodgers, and a 1-0 walk off win yesterday against the Mets.

Give the Marlins credit as they’ve been getting phenomenal pitching. Their staff has been the catalyst to a fantastic home record of 17-5. The stark contrast from wins at home and on the road is a strong sign for a big slide coming from the Marlins.

They’re just not getting enough hits to sustain their win/loss record. Sooner or later a pitching staff begins to slide. The little bit of room for error they have currently have is going to go out the window.

For Thursday the Marlins are heavy underdogs on the road in San Diego. For two teams that have been inept at scoring runs the under looks like the safe play. That’s a tad too risky in my opinion, but I’d play a small wager on San Diego -147.

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Maybe starting your season in Australia is not such a good idea. The Arizona Diamondbacks lost both games in Australia to the Dodgers and have found it difficult to muster any success early on in 2014.

Kirk Gibson must be counting down his days, as faith amongst fans dwindles by the day. It’s hard to restore belief in a team that struggles behind the plate and on the mound. Arizona’s woes are traced to a pitching staff that up until a few days ago, had surrendered runs in each game before the 5th inning.

They’ve found no success whatsoever amongst their starting pitchers and recently sent Trevor Cahill to the bullpen in favor of Collmenter.

Tonight Bronson Arroyo heads to the mound and this should be a good spot for him to shake off his early cobwebs. He has an ERA over 9. The veteran gets to face a Cubs team that isn’t a force with their bats like the Mets, Giants, and Dodgers.

That doesn’t mean that Arroyo will pick up a win tonight, but I am in favor of a play on the under. I just don’t see the Diamondbacks being able to string together runs off of base hits in multiple innings.

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On the mound for an early start at 2:10 PM EST will be the Detroit Tigers- Rick Porcello against John Danks and the White Sox. The White Sox have stymied the Tigers in the first two games of the series, and Porcello will certainly be called upon to deliver once again for the Tigers. Porcello has had three starts against the Tigers in nearly a month, getting two wins and a non-decision on August 4th. Look for the series to continue to be a tight run scoring affair. Porcello’s three starts against the White Sox he has only given up a total of four runs. That’s a number I like, and for Detroit to continue to struggle to get a high amount of runs. Look for a 5-2, or 6-2 finish, going under the nine run set line.

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Sometimes in baseball it takes that wake up call to get a team going. St. Louis experienced that in their four game losing stretch to their division rivals Pittsburgh. It appeared the Pirates gained momentum and all signs were pointing against a slump for the Cardinals without Yadier Molina. The Cardinals are not going to just fade away in the division. They have elite pitching, that even if their bats are struggling outstanding pitching can win games for them. Right now the talk of poor run support from the Cardinals has disappeared over the last two games. Even in their last loss to Pittsburgh they hit the ball well (13). St. Louis is going against a tough opposing pitcher in Tony Cingrani, but I believe the value play is on St. Louis here. At +150 take them as a moneyline play, and catapult your day with three premium plays offered

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Delving into Friday’s major league baseball action features three picks available. Today’s free play is focused on the total in the Cleveland Indians vs Miami Marlins. Ubaldo Jimenez has quelled the storm after starting the year rocky in Cleveland. He had a decent July, and is coming off two rock solid performances. One in Seattle where he allowed two home runs on five hits, and an eight inning gem in his last outing in which he gave up just two hits and zero runs. Cleveland’s travel could be a bit of a concern as they did play at Seattle a few series ago, and now they are in Miami. I don’t believe a veteran pitcher like Jimenez will have issues in that department.

Miami has put together some impressive wins over the last couple of weeks since the All-Star break. They’ve been producing runs when runners are in scoring position. Yesterday against Matt Harvey they scored just three runs, but those were timely runs when they had opportunities with runners on base. Jimenez is the type of pitcher that can clamp down against a lineup as the Marlins. He’ll get out of jams.

Home starting pitcher, Jose Fernandez, has not given up more than three runs dating back to June 1st. If Jimenez can control his walks and pitch through six innings, this should be an easy under.

Take the under of seven runs as Friday’s free play.