Cleveland Indians vs. Pittsburgh Pirates July 5 Free Pick

By MLB

Hope everyone’s Fourth was just that much better with another July winner behind Kendall Graveman and some good pitching from the King, too. Onto the fifth…

Free Pick

Danny Salazar was tremendous in his last outing, going nearly eight innings and only surrendering two hits the whole way. His strong start last time might lead you to believe we’re backing him on Sunday. Not so fast. Salazar has shown glimpses like this all throughout his, albeit young, career. But he’s never quite had the consistency to rank him up with the likes of, say a Gerrit Cole who happens to be his opponent today.  sbl

I’ve written about Gerrit Cole enough this year to really do it all over again. You all know I have my shortlist of guys that I like to back/fade most of the time as far as these SBL plays go. And there’s a little bit of a thought process behind it all. Cole is certainly the best guy that I enjoy to get behind many times. And this year he’s been kind to us. It’s all about his consistency! He almost always goes six or seven innings without giving up more than a couple runs. That promise in and of itself gives me confidence the Pirates will win this one because of the advantage they hold with their bullpen in the later innings at home. But Cole could also just completely out-pitch Salazar from the get-go, which only helps a Pittsburgh play. The guy is one of the Cy Young front runners and goes for his 12th win on Sunday against Cleveland. Despite the fact that he’s been a tad better on the road this season (who cares?), he’s always been money at home so why wouldn’t anyone like him at PNC against a weaker starter and overall opponent at just -128? I feel like the book is just begging us to take Pittsburgh here, which should always be a little bit of a red flag. But I can’t ignore the temptations here. Cole at home against the Tribe at such a price is too good to pass up, especially when we’re on a little bit of a winning streak of our own. Buccos!

Free Pick: Pittsburgh -128

YTD: 12-7-3 +3.22

2014: 45-28-3 +9.02


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