Yesterday’s rough weather has cleared, and now yesterday’s postponed pitching matchups impact today’s NRFI/YRFI picks. Now we get another bite at the apple with some of those games we had to ignore for first inning bets on Thursday. Let’s get into our two NRFI bets today for Friday, April 12. If you’re hungry for more, check out our MLB betting tools or our other MLB articles! Also, check out our guide to NRFI & YRFI betting.
NRFI & YRFI Bets Today: Best No & Yes Run First Inning Picks
Minnesota Twins vs. Detroit Tigers | NRFI & YRFI Bets Today
This matchup has a 7.0 total at some books, and for good reason: It’s the top pitcher’s duel on the slate, and these two teams are fighting tooth and nail to be the most mediocre offensive team in the American League Central (the White Sox set the standard of bad, the Twins and Tigers merely jockey for the most mediocre).
Pablo Lopez and Tarik Skubal are both legit aces, at least for these two teams, and they are also two of the best strikeout artists on the mound tonight. Lopez has been pitching to contact a little more this year, but he has kept the walks down and is only giving up a .131 ISO — not much power, in other words.
Skubal, meanwhile, is building on his breakout 2023, posting a microscopic 0.73 WHIP and a strong 10.9 strikeouts per nine through 12.1 innings. He has allowed a pair of home runs, but the only two teams with as few home runs as the Twins are the White Sox (eight) and the Tigers (nine). Again, this division is just a hotbed of exciting action.
Minnesota and Detroit are both bottom 6 in rOBA, which weighs player’s offensive contributions, and Rbat+, which weighs batting runs produced by game environment. More simply, they average the third- and fifth-fewest runs per game in MLB.
So basically, this game has two lineups without run production against two pitchers who are holding it down on the mound. Yes, the odds are not great, but there is still NRFI value here that we can grab at ESPN BET.
YRFI & NRFI Bets Today: Twins-Tigers NRFI (-145, ESPN BET)
Washington Nationals vs. Oakland Athletics | NRFI & YRFI Bets Today
What we have here is a game with the second-lowest total on the board — and taking money on the under — and a matchup between two subpar offenses in a pitcher-friendly ballpark. Smells like a NRFI to me.
Only one team in MLB has scored fewer runs per game than the Athletics this year: The White Sox, who obviously burned us by scoring a run when we played the no run first inning that day.
Alas, the Athletics are a young team with not a lot of big names or big bats in their lineup. That bodes well for Nationals starter Jake Irvin, as he has not exactly been keeping teams off the scoreboard in his 26 career starts. He has, however, brought his walks down this year to 2.5 per nine innings and kept scoreless firsts in both of his starts this year.
On the other side is Paul Blackburn, one of the few A’s players with a professional trophy case (he made an All-Star appearance in 2022). Blackburn has been money this year, not allowing a single run through 13 innings. Of course, that is not going to hold, but the Nationals are a below-average offensive team with some power but also a good amount of soft contact.
Even as a contact pitcher, Blackburn has managed to keep power in check throughout his career, so this Nationals team doesn’t seem too threatening tonight. We’re going NRFI mainly because that A’s stink, but Washington doesn’t look too potent either.
YRFI & NRFI Bets Today: Nationals-Athletics NRFI (-109, Pinnacle)
