It was a tough day for those who like to bet under in baseball.
Under bettors had to watch in agony if they had action on either the Cincinnati Reds vs. San Francisco Giants game or the Chicago White Sox vs. Chicago Cubs contest.
The action began in Cincinnati where the total was set at 8.5. Under bettors were cruising as they watched the Reds take a 2-0 lead into the eighth inning.
Then, all hell broke loose.
The Giants scored six runs in the top of the eighth to take a 6-2 lead over the Reds. Okay, that was a lot of runs. But the under wasn't dead yet.
The game proceeded to go scoreless over the next two half innings. The Reds had one last inning to try to make some noise.
Now, an experienced baseball bettor would be worried about a four-run lead with an under ticket hanging on for dear life. That typically means the leading team won't bring in its closer unless it becomes a save situation (three runs).
The Giants brought in their closer, Camilo Doval, anyway. He got one quick out, then Kyle Farmer singled to center. Mike Moustakas struck out and Albert Almora Jr. was up to the plate with one on and two outs in the bottom of the ninth.
Almora ripped the heart out of under bettors as he homered and made it a 6-4 game.
The day wasn't over for those who also bet the under in the South Side of Chicago for the White Sox vs. Cubs. The total was set at 7 and under bettors were cruising as they watched a pitcher's duel between Dylan Cease and Marcus Stroman.
The game was scoreless thru six innings. The Cubs scored in the top of 7th to make it 1-0 and took that lead all the way to the bottom of the ninth inning. You can assume by now that the bottom of the inning was not a clean one.
But even a couple of White Sox runs wouldn't have hurt under bettors who still had plenty of cushion at this point.
The White Sox scored one run and forced an under bettor's worst nightmare — extra innings.
There were seven runs scored in extra innings and under bettors got crushed.
As a wise man once said, life is too short.
