Morning Coffee: Votto propels Reds to ninth straight win in season debut

Joey Votto put in the work to get ready for his 2023 season debut on Monday night.

His relentless dedication paid off as he helped propel the Cincinnati Reds to a ninth straight win.

The 39-year-old Canadian went 2-of-3 with a home run and three RBI in a 5-4 win over the Colorado Rockies.

Votto, who had been sidelined since having surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff and biceps in his left arm last August, was a key difference-maker batting sixth in a suddenly loaded lineup.

The Reds have won nine straight games to take over sole possession of first place in the NL Central division.

Perhaps most importantly, another Cincinnati win means that we cashed another FanDuel Best Bet in this column, pushing the win streak to three in a row.

Let’s stay hot with another winner this morning.

This is the Morning Coffee for Tuesday June 20, 2023.

Votto propels Reds to ninth straight win in debut

On March 1, the Cincinnati Reds were 60-to-1 to win the NL Central division title at FanDuel.

You could still find them at 20-to-1 to win the division as recently as two weeks ago.

After stringing together nine straight victories to take over sole possession of first place in the division, the Reds are down to +440 to win the NL Central at FanDuel this morning.

Votto provided the spark last night batting sixth in the Cincinnati lineup. It’s the first time that Votto hit lower than fifth in the order since his debut MLB season in 2008.

The emergence of rookies Elly De La Cruz, Matt McLain and Spencer Steer has given the Reds the luxury of slotting in Votto in the bottom half of their order.

De La Cruz, McLain and Steer are all among the top 12 choices to win NL Rookie of the Year at FanDuel this morning.

Cincinnati has scored the fifth-most runs in the NL this season.

However, their pitchers have combined for the second-worst ERA in the NL, ahead of only the Rockies, which is a major area of weakness that they will need to address in order to contend for a division title.

On Monday, we locked in Reds ML at -158 as the FanDuel Best Bet in this column. Cincinnati closed -172 at FanDuel last night.

Anyone who bet the Reds at 20-to-1 or longer to win their division is sitting pretty comfortable with that ticket this morning.

If you missed that boat, there’s still room on the money line train for anyone that wants to jump on Cincinnati while they are hot.

Royals still winless when Lyles starts While the Reds can’t lose of late, the Kansas City Royals can’t win a game when Jordan Lyles starts.

The Royals led the Detroit Tigers 4-1 when Lyles departed last night’s game with two runners on in the seventh.

The Tigers scored five runs in the inning, including a three-run home run off reliever Taylor Clarke with two outs, on their way to a 6-4 win.

Kansas City has lost each of Lyles’ 15 starts this season.

That is the longest losing streak when a pitcher starts to begin a season in AL/NL history.

Don’t look now, but Lyles’ next start is scheduled to come on the road against the best team in baseball at the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday.

What will the juice look like betting the Rays at FanDuel in that one?

A FanDuel Best Bet for Tuesday night’s MLB slate

We’re heating up again with the FanDuel Best Bets in this column.

We’ve won three in a row to improve to 30-9 betting on all sports over the past six weeks – a 77 per cent win rate.

Let’s try to keep it going with another FanDuel Best Bet winner for tonight’s MLB slate.

I’m locking in the Texas Rangers money line at -126. The Rangers have won three in a row, including a 5-2 victory in the series opener against the Chicago White Sox on Monday.

Tonight’s starter Nathan Eovaldi is 9-3 with a 2.59 ERA.

He’s 6-1 with a 1.98 ERA on the road this season.

The Texas offence leads the majors with 439 runs scored – 24 more than the Rays for the best mark in baseball.

Dylan Cease has been better at home than on the road for the White Sox this season, but he likely won’t have much room for error tonight opposite Eovaldi, who is currently the sixth choice to win the AL Cy Young award at FanDuel.

I’ll take the better team at a discount price on the road.

Give me the Rangers ML at -126 as my FanDuel Best Bet for Tuesday night’s MLB slate.

Good luck to anyone who tails!