Baseball is faster than ever with the implementation of the pitch clock, but 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 three NRFI picks for Monday’s full slate of MLB action.
| NRFI Bet Today | Odds | Why I Like the Pick |
| Orioles at Tigers | -115 | Keider Montero has 15 scoreless first innings in 16 starts, and Kyle Bradish has 17 scoreless first innings in 19 starts. Both teams are top eight in NRFI rate this season. |
| Guardians at Reds | -120 | Chase Burns dominates in the first, and the Guardians have the second-highest NRFI rate this season. Slade Cecconi has been trending up in NRFI, and Great American Ball Park is surprisingly a top-10 venue for NRFI this season. |
| Braves at Mets | -110 | Lefties Martin Perez and Zac Thornton clash in this NL East contest. Thornton has 13 scoreless innings in his last two starts vs. MIL and BOS, and the Mets’ offense has struggled enough to make Perez viable even though he’s typically around league average. |
Baltimore Orioles at Detroit Tigers (-115)
Let’s open our NRFI props for Monday with a battle of American League teams who are trying to push their way into Wild Card contention to avoid being sellers at the deadline. The Orioles are 51-55 while the Tigers are 50-56, but both are within five games of the final AL Wild Card spot to start the week.
The Tigers will give the ball to Keider Montero for this matchup, who has 15 scoreless first innings in his 16 starts this season. Montero gave up a run in his first inning against the Cubs last week, but then went 4 1/3 scoreless innings after that with eight strikeouts. The 26-year-old righty has been sneaky-solid for the Tigers with a 3.14 ERA and 0.96 WHIP on the season.
On the other side, Kyle Bradish has a six-game NRFI streak and has allowed a run in the first inning in only two of his 19 starts this season. He held the surging Red Sox to just one run in six innings in his last outing and has allowed just eight earned runs in 33 1/3 innings over his last five starts.
Both teams have been great NRFI targets throughout this season, since their offenses have been underwhelming. The Orioles have the sixth-highest NRFI rate this season, while the Tigers aren’t far behind them with the eighth-highest NRFI rate.
Cleveland Guardians at Cincinnati Reds (-120)
These interleague, in-state rivals are set to square off at Great American Ball Park to start the week. The Guardians have ben an elite NRFI team this season, with the second-highest NRFI rate, just one NRFI behind the league-leading Padres. They come into this series with a four-game NRFI streak and run into Chase Burns in the series opener.
Burns has a seven-game NRFI streak and has started 18 of his 19 starts this season with a scoreless frame. In his career, he has 24 scoreless first innings in his 27 starts, making him one of the top NRFI options in almost any matchup. With how slowly the Guardians have been starting, Burns is a very strong half of this NRFI prop.
The other side is a little shakier, with Slade Cecconi starting for the Guardians. He has 14 scoreless first innings in 20 starts this season for a league-average 70% NRFI rate. He has been a little better with eight NRFI hits in his last 10 outings, and the Reds are barely above league average at NRFI this season. They do rank in the top 10 in no runs scored in the first inning percentage, so Cecconi has an above-average chance of keeping them quiet for the first frame on Monday night.
While it’s a hitter-friendly setup overall, Great American Ball Park is actually in the top 10 NRFI of the primary stadiums this season. This Buckeye State battle will be a fun one to watch this week, but it has a good chance to start with a pair of blanks in the first inning.
Atlanta Braves at New York Mets (-110)
We’ll close out Monday night’s NRFI plays with another game from the wave starting just after 7:00. The Braves are in New York to take on the Mets at Citi Field in an N.L. East matchup to start the week. The home team will give the ball to promising rookie Zac Thornton, while the Braves to with veteran lefty Martin Perez.
Thornton gave up a run in the first inning of his first two MLB starts this season, but he has dominated his two outings since his most recent promotion, twirling 13 shutout innings with five hits allowed and seven strikeouts. He kept the Red Sox and the Brew Crew off the scoreboard entirely, not just in the first inning, so the 24-year-old lefty has lots of potential, even though he does have a tough matchup against the Braves. It does help that he’s left-handed, though, since the Braves typically lean to the left at the top of the order.
The already-struggling Mets offense will be missing Juan Soto (calf) for a while, and Martin Perez has thrown 11 scoreless first innings in his 15 starts this season. Perez hasn’t allowed a run in three straight road starts coming into this matchup, and the Mets rank 11th in the lowest run scored in the first inning percentage. However, they did get a run off Perez when they faced him earlier this month in Atlanta after he kept them quiet in the first inning in a June 13 start at Citi Field.
Even though both teams have had slightly more YRFI than NRFI this season, this pitching matchup could definitely produce an NRFI hit and comes at solid value at -110.
