If you’re looking to make NRFI bets today, there aren’t many that look all that appetizing. Thursday’s slate is kind of like the Applebee’s of NRFIs — a limited menu with a couple options that LOOK good, but you know if tempt fate, there’s an 87% or greater chance you’ll be exploding a toilet later. So, instead of getting exotic and tempting the porcelain gods with the Applebee’s seafood, we’re playing it safe, and sticking with chicken strips of no run first inning picks for Thursday, June 6.
If you’re hungry for more, check out our NRFI & YRFI betting.
NRFI Bets Today: Best No Run First Inning Picks & Predictions
Colorado Rockies vs. St. Louis Cardinals | NRFI Bets Today
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This matchup of Sonny Gray and Cal Qantrill stood out to me as the best NRFI bet today, but we’re going to have to pay a little bit of juice on it as of right now (-130). Hey, you know, inflation on these chain restaurants is definitely a thing — even for a chicken strips dinner.
St. Louis sends its ace to the mound to open the series against the Rockies, looking to bounce back after a mediocre start last time out against a potent Phillies offense.
This should be a start where Gray settles in early, as Colorado has shown the inability to hit right-handed pitching most of the year. It ranks 29th in wRC+ against righties and is striking just a shade under 26% of the time — fourth-most in baseball against RHPs.
Gray has been a stone-cold KILLER with strikeouts this season, sitting in the 95th percentile in strikeout rate (33.5%). And of pitchers with 50 or more innings pitched, he has the best strikeout-per-nine-inning rate at 12.16/9.
So, we should be able to put full trust in Gray to be the fully cooked, crispy, juicy chicken tender with a side of sweet chili dipping sauce we need in the first inning.
Which, is just a long way of saying, he should be able to get us the first three outs we need, and will probably rack up a few Ks along the way, which is exactly what we want when making NRFI picks.
Now, if Gray is the main dish of chicken strips, that makes Cal Quantrill the side of fries. Because, sometimes you can get a REALLY GOOD side of fries. But, sometimes you get the fries that have been sitting there for 2-3 hours and they’re a bit cold; kinda mushy … you know what I’m talking about.
That’s Quantrill this season.
When he’s good, he’s REALLY GOOD. But when he’s not, he’s basically that 3-hour old mushy fries.
However, for most of the season, he’s come out of the kitchen right out of the fryer and been the piping-hot fries we need, cuz he’s 10-2 on NRFIs.
Quantrill has increased his splitter usage nearly 25 percentage points from last season, which is absolutely absurd, and the results have been great for him. The groundball rate is approaching 50%(!), which is one of the better percentile rankings in all of baseball, and it’s getting whiffs at a nearly 27% clip as well.
While the Cardinals offense has been cookin’ a bit more lately, I’m still not overly scared of them. The 7.5-run total suggests we shouldn’t be running away from this game either.
So, we’re going to fire up this Rockies-Cardinals NRFI bet today to break out of our slump. Let’s eat good in the neighborhood.
Best NRFI Bets Today: Rockies-Cardinals NRFI (-130 at Caesars)
