The Cincinnati Reds and Washington Nationals close out their series at Nationals Park with a doozy of a pitcher’s duel as Sonny Gray will toe the rubber against Stephen Strasburg.
The game will be played to seven innings after the teams finish off Wednesday night’s suspended matchup, which will be completed this afternoon. But with only seven innings for the nightcap, is the total of 6.5 too high for these top-end starters?
Check out our free MLB betting picks and predictions for Reds vs. Nationals on Thursday, May 27, with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 p.m. ET.
Reds vs Nationals game info
• Location: Nationals Park, Washington, DC
• Date: Thursday, May 27, 2021
• Time: 7:05 p.m. ET
• TV: BSO, MASN
Reds vs Nationals odds
Odds via the Covers Line, an average comprised of odds from multiple sportsbooks.
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Reds vs Nationals betting preview
Starting pitchers
Sonny Gray (0-3, 3.96 ERA): Gray hasn’t been bad this season. In fact, the right-hander has pitched to a 2.78 ERA and is limiting opponents to a .218 batting average over four starts in May. That said, he's still hunting for his first win of the season.
Stephen Strasburg (1-1, 4.11 ERA): Strasburg makes just his second start since returning from the IL. The former World Series MVP allowed no runs on just one hit over 5 1-3 innings in his return against the Orioles but he did battle his control a bit, surrendering four walks.
Weather
Be sure to monitor the gametime conditions with our MLB weather info.
Key injuries
Reds: Nick Senzel CF (Out), Mike Moustakas 3B (Out), Joey Votto 1B (Out), Michael Lorenzen RP (Out).
Nationals: Victor Robles CF (Out), Aaron Barrett RP (Out), Will Harris RP (Out).
Find our latest MLB injury reports.
Betting trend to know
The Reds are 5-21 (not including this afternoon’s resumed game) in the last 26 meetings against the Nationals. Find more MLB betting trends for Reds vs. Nationals.
Moneyline pick
It has been a disappointing first two months of the season for both the Reds and Nationals. Both are four games under .500 and sit near or at the bottom of their respective divisions. The good news is they aren’t that far back in their division races so they’ll want to build some momentum going into the weekend.
The Reds are all about the offense this season, ranking seventh in scoring and batting average, fourth in OPS, and fifth in home runs. Jesse Winker and Nick Castellanos are both raking. But several key injuries have sapped this lineup of their dangerous depth.
Control Winker and Castellanos and you can be successful against the Reds, and Strasburg is more than capable of that. While the Reds will prove a much tougher test than the Orioles, this is still Stephen Strasburg and before his injury, he shut out a powerful Braves lineup on just one hit over six innings back on April 3.
Countering Strasburg is Gray, who has quietly been solid once again this season but is still allowing too many baserunners with his 1.47 WHIP. That could come back and bite him against a Nationals lineup that ranks third in batting average.
Mix in a Reds bullpen that is one of the worst in the majors and we like the value with the Nats in this one.
PREDICTION: Nationals (-130)
Over/Under pick
The total of 6.5 stands out for this matchup, considering the game is only seven-innings long. I wouldn’t have been shocked if a matchup with pitchers of this caliber had a total of 7.0 for a full game, so you can guess which way we are leaning in this one.
Despite Gray’s issues with walks, he has allowed three earned runs or fewer in six of his seven starts and on the other side is Strasburg, who people can sometimes forget can be one of the best pitchers in all of baseball when he's on.
The other thing is, both of these guys are capable of pitching the majority of this seven-inning game. Gray has pitched at least five innings in four of his last five starts while it looks like there are little restrictions on Strasburg after pitching into the sixth in his first start back from injury.
When you also consider that the Reds have averaged 3.38 runs per nine innings over the last eight games and that the Nats rank 22nd in scoring then it’s hard not to like the Under in this one.
PREDICTION: Under 6.5 (-110)
Reds vs Nationals betting card
- Nationals (-130)
- Under 6.5 (-110)
Picks made on 5/27/2021 at 1:40 p.m. ET
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