Handicapper Art Aronson of AAA Sports Plays Free Picks & Best Bets

This is a 10* play on SEATTLE

Going with an opener last night, the Mariners lost to the Royals 6-4. Yet even with the opener not working out (Tayler Scott gave up two runs), Seattle was still in position to down KC for a 10th straight time. Tommy Milone came in and gave the home team 6+ solid innings, allowing only one run and three hits. The Mariners were up 4-2 heading into the seventh, but the bullpen let them down by giving up four runs over those final three frames. As much as Seattle has struggled over these last two months, it's never a good idea to back the Royals off a win as they are just 6-16 in this situation. They're also just 10-25 on the road. With both of tonight's starters (Kikuchi for Seattle, Bailey for Kansas City) coming off better than usual outings, we'll side with the better offensive team tonight. Seattle still is averaging over five runs per game, a full run more than Kansas City. Also, look at whom each pitcher faced in their respective last starts. Bailey faced the league's lowest scoring team (Detroit) while Kikuchi faced the highest scoring team (Minnesota). Seattle is 6-0 following their last six losses. Play on SEATTLE

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This is an 8* play on CLEVELAND 

The Indians rolled into Arlington feeling pretty good about themselves. They'd just swept Detroit over the weekend, on the road, and thus had a shot at passing the Rangers in the Wild Card race. Granted Detroit is a bad team, but Cleveland certainly did it's job, outscoring the Tigers 25-6. But Monday was a reality check as Texas beat them 7-2. We look for the Indians to bounce back tonight. We definitely have liked what we've seen from Zach Plesac, who will be getting the start. In four starts, Plesac has given up only eight runs in 24 2/3 innings. He had a little issue with the home run ball in his last start, but we don't see that being a problem here. Texas starter Sampson had an even bigger issue with the home run ball in his last start, giving up FOUR in a 7-6 loss to Boston. He allowed six runs overall as his ERA rose to 5.61 for the year. Note that all seven Rangers runs scored yesterday came with two outs, which could be dubbed as being pretty lucky. No such "luck" Tuesday. Play on CLEVELAND

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This is an 8* Play on HOUSTON

Houston took a rare loss on Monday, falling to the Reds by a score of 3-2. We had the Under, so that result was just fine on this end. It was actually the Astros second loss in a row as they were humbled Sunday in Toronto, 12-0. But with Justin Verlander on the bump tonight, it should be a pretty easy return to the winners circle. Verlander continues to pitch extraordinarily well as he has an 11-4 TSR, 2.50 ER and 0.735 WHIP. That WHIP is what really stands out as it's the best in all of baseball by a fairly comfortable margin. Now in his last start he was tagged for three solo home runs and that was the difference in a 6-3 loss to Milwaukee (another NL Central team). But those were the only runs he allowed and he did have 15 strikeouts. This seems to be a really short price on the Astros given Cincinnati has Anthony DeSclafani pitching and he's been subpar to say the least. The Reds are only .500 at home while the Astros are 21-14 on the road. Houston is 25-5 in Verlander's last 30 road starts while Cincy is just 1-6 in DeSclafani's last seven at home. The Reds are also just 5-16 off their previous 21 wins. Play on HOUSTON

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