Top MLB Picks for Thursday: May 28 Baseball Betting Predictions and Props

Chris Sale would like nothing better than to post a standout performance in Fenway Park when the Atlanta Braves face the Boston Red Sox on Thursday afternoon. Sale seemed on a downhill slide when he sustained a major arm injury and later struggled with Boston in 2023 before the trade to the Braves revived his career.

While Sale seems on his way to his third straight All-Star appearance with the Braves – and 10th overall – he’s not the only top-flight pitcher getting the ball Thursday. Paul Skenes will look to bounce back from consecutive shaky starts when he pitches against the struggling Chicago Cubs.

It wasn’t that long ago that the Houston Astros were the dominant team in the American League West. The Texas Rangers placed their bid when they won the 2023 World Series. But both teams are subpar so far this season as they enter the series finale.

ATLANTA BRAVES AT BOSTON RED SOX

Sale is 7-3 and his 1.89 ERA ranks sixth in the majors and he has allowed just 40 hits over 62 innings. The 37-year-old Sale has allowed one or fewer runs in nine of his 11 starts.

Sale is 4-1 with a 1.89 ERA in 12 appearances (seven starts) against the Red Sox with most of those outings coming for the Chicago White Sox. The Braves are a stellar 20-9 on the road this season after splitting the first two games of the season.

The Red Sox are just 9-18 at Fenway Park but had a lot of fun Wednesday while rolling to an 8-0 victory over the Braves to end a four-game overall slide and a five-game home skid. Leadoff hitter Jarren Duran had four hits and homered for the second straight game and No. 2 hitter Ceddanne Rafaela added three hits and the pair will aim to support lefty Payton Tolle (2-2, 2.45) in the finale.

Total runs to be under 7, +103 (DraftKings)

CHICAGO CUBS AT PITTSBURGH PIRATES

Skenes (6-4, 3.00) allowed two hits over eight shutout innings in each of his first two starts this month before suddenly becoming easy to hit and allowing nine runs and 15 hits over 10 innings in losses to the Philadelphia Phillies and Toronto Blue Jays. Skenes is 2-2 with a 2.94 ERA in seven career starts against Chicago.

The Cubs will come to the ballpark in a good mood for the first time since the middle of the month after breaking their 10-game skid with a 10-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday. The Cubs gave up eight or more runs five times during their winless stretch, including Tuesday’s 12-1 loss to the Pirates.

Ian Happ smacked a three-run blast and drove in five runs on Wednesday after being 2-for-31 over his previous eight games. Veteran right-hander Colin Rea (4-3, 4.83) will match up against Skenes and attempt to give Chicago a split of the four-game set.

Pirates to win -1.5 runs, +130 (DraftKings)

HOUSTON ASTROS AT TEXAS RANGERS

The Astros are showing life with five wins in six games – including two of three in this series – but are still seven games below .500. Houston qualified for the playoffs eight straight seasons, topping 100 wins in four of them, before missing the postseason last season

Slugger Yordan Alvarez loves to feast on Texas pitching and he hit two homers in Wednesday’s 4-3 victory and he has five in the first three games of the series. Alvarez has gone deep 25 times in 72 regular-season games against Texas and also had a two-homer game in the 2023 American League Championship Series, won by the Rangers en route to winning their lone World Series crown.

Texas missed the playoffs the past two seasons and have lost five of six games and were victims to a Houston combined no-hitter on Monday. Nathan Eovaldi (5-5, 3.65) knows his biggest task is keeping Alvarez in the yard but good luck as Alvarez is 12-for-23 with two homers and three doubles against the veteran righty.

Yordan Alvarez to hit one-plus homers, +311 (DraftKings)