27th Aug - Giants vs Cubs

To say that San Francisco ace Bumgarner has been in-form is a huge understatement. The Giants play their best baseball in crunch time and that is also reflected in their 26-year old superstar pitcher. After a slightly mediocre (by his standards) end to July, Bumgarner has been lights out through August going 4-0 and posting a 1.42 ERA. He’s has some overpowering stuff posting 42 strikeouts to just two walks during that stretch.

The Giants didn’t necessarily breakout against Chicago yesterday, but they did have two strong innings posting a pair of runs in the 1st and 6th inning. This is a team that plays good defence and generally feels like a tough squad to overcome if they get going early.

San Francisco’s hitters should fancy making contact against Chicago’s Dan Harren, the former Miami Marlins pitcher has struggled since a mid-season trade to the Cubs. He’s failed to get through the sixth inning in four starts posting 1-1 record and 6.05 ERA (and giving up seven home runs). Perhaps this is the game where he finds his rhythm, but he can expect for the pressure to be on tonight.

The Cubs will hope that their line-up has a better night overall, but it was another strong night for the team’s star young player Kris Bryant. He went 2 for 4 and batted in both of Chicago’s RBIs in the first inning. Bryant is batting out of the five-spot in the line-up and causing significant damage coming to the plate after Schwarber, Castro, Coghlan and Rizzo.

Three Reasons for Betting Tips

1. Bumgarner

He’s a superstar and he’s pitching brilliantly right now. It’s difficult to bet against Bumgarner in any game during the season and especially right now. This is his time of year and AT&T park is his fortress, he’s locked in and until he’s stops winning, we won’t tip against him.

2. Giants’ time

This is their time of year, they’re playing their best baseball and pulling to 1 1/2 games of the LA Dodgers will be inspiration. 5 1/2 games isn’t insurmountable in the Wildcard race either.

3. Making contact with Harren

Our betting tips are banking on the Giants to make contact with Harren and to rack up enough runs (and early) to take control of this game and to win it by a margin. Harren will struggle to go more than five, even against San Francisco and Bumgarner will go at least seven.

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