Baseball is faster than ever with the implementation of the pitch clock, but the DraftKings Sportsbook also has a market for those who still can’t wait 2.5 hours for results. NRFI bets (No Run First Inning) are exactly what they sound like. They give the bettor the ability to wager specifically on the outcome of a game’s opening frame. Will either team score a run? Yes or no? It’s that simple.
With that in mind, here are my top two NRFI picks for Tuesday’s full slate of MLB action.
Detroit Tigers at New York Yankees NRFI (-145)
This might be the most chalk NRFI we’ve had all season.
Even with Tarik Skubal looking rusty since coming off the IL, this is a pitching matchup between the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner and Cam Schlittler, the frontrunner for the honor in 2026. This should be a contest where runs are at a premium. Yes, Skubal gave up four earned runs and three long balls to this same Yankees lineup last week, but I’m still going to trust the decorated track record of the LHP. Even when he’s “struggled” in his last three starts, Skubal has registered a 10.5 K/BB ratio and the fastball velocity has looked normal. The good results are surely coming, and Skubal should have the edge against a New York squad that is 12-for-123 (.098) in its last four games — all losses.
The Tigers aren’t hitting all that well, either. After starting the month very strong, Detroit’s production has tapered off the past two weeks, as the club is hitting .239 with a 94 wRC+. Now they’ll have to square-off with Schlittler, who sits second to only Jacob Misiorowski among qualified pitchers in ERA (1.62) and FIP (2.21). Schlittler also hasn’t allowed a first inning run in any of his past 13 starts. You’d have to go all the way back to April 12 to find the blemish.
St. Louis Cardinals at Atlanta Braves NRFI (-110)
At first glance, this really isn’t the type of pitching matchup I gravitate towards for a NRFI bet. Martin Perez is a 35-year-old soft-tossing lefty that has an xERA (4.04) that’s a full run higher than his actual ERA (3.00). Matthew Liberatore has a 10.34 ERA in the month of June, for goodness sake. This isn’t exactly a clash of aces. That said, neither of these teams has been able to hit over the past couple of weeks.
For all their big-name talent, the Braves have suffered through the past 14 days, sitting dead-last in MLB in ISO (.103), expected wOBA (.269) and wRC+ (51) in that span of time. It obviously doesn’t help that Ronald Acuna Jr. (hamstring) is on the IL at the moment, but some of these performances are jaw-dropping. Drake Baldwin is 2-for-45 (.047) in this run. Ha-Seong Kim is hitless in 20 at-bats. Yikes. The Cardinals aren’t doing much better. In this same two-week stretch, St. Louis ranks 30th in home runs (6) and 22nd in wOBA (.306). It’s just hard to score runs consistently without the long ball.
