Today’s Kentucky Derby will serve as a great appetizer to tonight’s baseball games. The “Fastest Two Minutes in Sports” is a nice early evening distraction, and then it’s on to the late games. To spice it up a little bit, fill out a Draftsreet daily fantasy baseball lineup, and try using one or more of these low-cost pitchers.
Best Bet
Tanner Roark – $12,934
Roark is on a nice roll at the moment. He is working on two consecutive scoreless starts, totaling 15.2 innings. His most recent one, on April 26th against the Padres, was a complete game, three-hit effort with eight strikeouts. It was his fourth quality start in five outings this year. He’s really had just one subpar game, which was his second of the season. Otherwise, he has been excellent. And his Saturday night matchup is a favorable one. He will oppose the Phillies, who rank 22nd in the Majors in scoring offense, and have only put up six total runs in their last three games.
Double Down
Garrett Richards – $13,491
Richards is a very good play tonight, himself. He has actually put up better numbers than Roark, but Roark is on a great run and comes in a few hundred dollars cheaper, which makes him the slightly better play tonight. But Richards is just outside the top 10 in the American League in ERA at 2.53 and his 1.00 WHIP is tied for fifth. He has gone seven innings in three of his five starts year, and has allowed three or fewer hits in a game four times. He is also picking up the strikeouts, averaging about one an inning. Richards should have the chance to do some damage today as he’ll get the nod against Texas. Though a very good offense on paper, the Rangers have had trouble translating that to the field this season, especially lately. Their 20 runs over six games in the last week is the second-fewest in the American League.
Roll the Dice
Ryan Vogelsong – $9,645
As one would probably expect from a pitcher at this cost, there is some risk involved here. Vogelsong does not yet have a win on the season, he has a 5.40 ERA, and he doesn’t put up huge strikeout numbers. That doesn’t sound great, but it gets better upon closer examination. He has quality starts in two of his last three outings, and allowed six hits and one run in 13 innings. Unfortunately, there was also one blow up sandwiched in between. He allowed five runs and was not able to get out of the second inning. But that also came against Colorado, which owns the best offense in all of baseball. That is not who he will see tonight. Instead, it will be the Braves, who have managed to score just 17 runs in six games over the last week.
