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The Milwaukee Brewers and Cincinnati Reds are certainly not playing their best baseball of the season as of late. The Brewers got off to a hot start but really struggle offensively and lost five of their last six games to drop to 21-22 for third place in the National League Central. Meanwhile, the Reds are coming off getting swept in four games by the San Francisco Giants including a 19-4 loss on Thursday afternoon as they fell to 19-23 this season.
Milwaukee will turn to Adrian Houser as the starting pitcher on Friday, May 21st. Through eight starts, he has a 3-4 record and a 3.63 ERA. The Reds will give the ball to Jeff Hoffman, who has a 2-3 record with a 4.67 ERA through eight starts this season.
Brewers vs. Reds, 7:10 p.m. ET, FS1
Moneyline pick: Reds +102
These teams are complete opposites in that Milwaukee has outstanding pitching with not much ability at the plate, while the Reds score plenty of runs but allow more. This one can go either way, but we’re going with the home underdogs due to their offensive firepower that Milwaukee cannot match. The Brewers rank No. 26 in runs scored this season.
Player Prop: Jeff Hoffman O4.5 strikeouts (-130)
The Brewers struggle offensively, and a big part of that is not being able to make contact. Milwaukee has the seventh most strikeouts so far this season as a team. Jeff Hoffman hasn’t been able to last too long in his starts, but if he gets to five innings on Friday night, he should manage to finish with five or more strikeouts.
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