The Los Angeles Dodgers head to Great American Ball Park on Tuesday night to take on the Cincinnati Reds, and this is exactly the kind of matchup that makes for a great introduction to same game parlays. The Dodgers (91-59) are red-hot and send ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto to the mound, while the rebuilding Reds (70-80) counter with rookie right-hander Rhett Lowder. First pitch is set for 6:40 PM ET.

When one team has a clear pitching edge like this, it opens the door for a same game parlay that connects several logical dots: the favorite covering, the total staying low, the ace piling up strikeouts, and a struggling Reds bat going quiet at the plate. Combined, a four-leg SGP like this can pay out well over 10-1 depending on your sportsbook, all built around one clean storyline. Here’s how to build it, leg by leg.

Leg 1: Dodgers to Cover the Run Line (-1.5)

The Dodgers are currently favored at around -230 on the moneyline and -1.5 (-136 to -142) on the run line, per lines tracked by Action Network and Bleacher Report. That’s a significant gap, and it’s earned. Los Angeles has the far deeper, more dangerous lineup, with Freddie Freeman hitting .293 with 16 home runs, Mookie Betts adding 20 homers of his own, and Max Muncy providing thump in the middle of the order with 28 long balls.

Cincinnati, meanwhile, is 22 games under .500 and has already been eliminated from serious playoff contention, which means less urgency and, often, less discipline in close games. When you layer a dominant starter like Yamamoto on top of a lineup this talented, -1.5 becomes a very reasonable lean rather than a reach. It’s the anchor leg of this parlay because it reflects the biggest true skill gap on the field.

Leg 2: Under 8.5 Total Runs

The total for this game sits at 8.5, priced right around -110 on both sides. With Yamamoto on the mound, the under carries real appeal. He’s running a 2.62 ERA and a sparkling 0.88 WHIP across 26 starts this season, meaning he simply doesn’t let many runners on base to begin with, let alone let them score.

The counter-argument for the over is Lowder, whose 5.81 ERA and 1.53 WHIP suggest the Dodgers could put up a crooked number of their own. But that’s exactly why this leg pairs so well with the run line above: even if Los Angeles scores comfortably, Yamamoto suppressing Cincinnati’s side of the ledger keeps the combined total in check. A 5-2 or 6-3 final would cash both the run line and the under together, which is the kind of correlated outcome that makes a same game parlay smarter than betting each leg in isolation.

Leg 3: Yoshinobu Yamamoto Over 6.5 Strikeouts

This is the signature leg of the parlay. Yamamoto has racked up 171 strikeouts across 172 innings this season, an 8.95 K/9 rate that ranks among the best in baseball, and he’s coming off a start against this very same Reds lineup on September 9th in which he struck out 10 batters over seven innings. Over his last 10 outings he’s averaging 7.1 strikeouts per game, comfortably clearing a line in the 6.5-7.5 range that books have posted for him much of this season.

Cincinnati’s lineup also strikes out at an above-average clip against right-handed pitching, sitting around a 25-26% strikeout rate over the full season and its last two weeks alike. Facing a pitcher of Yamamoto’s caliber, that tendency becomes a real liability. Beginners should note this is the type of prop worth shopping across a couple of sportsbooks, since the exact number (6.5 vs. 7.5) and price can shift depending on where you look.

Leg 4: TJ Friedl Under 1.5 Hits

To round out the parlay with a batter-side leg, look at Reds outfielder TJ Friedl going under on his hits total. Friedl has been ice cold recently, going hitless in multiple of his last several starts, and he now carries a below-average hit rate on his prop bets this season. Facing a pitcher who limits opponents to a .215 expected batting average and generates a chase rate north of 33%, Friedl profiles as exactly the type of hitter likely to be shut down.

This leg also correlates nicely with everything above it: if Yamamoto is dealing well enough to rack up strikeouts and keep the Reds under the total, it stands to reason a struggling hitter like Friedl gets neutralized in the process too. That’s the beauty of building a same game parlay around one central idea instead of stacking together random, unrelated bets.

The Full Parlay

Put it all together and you have: Dodgers -1.5, Under 8.5 total runs, Yamamoto Over 6.5 strikeouts, and TJ Friedl Under 1.5 hits. Every leg leans on the same underlying premise — Yamamoto dominating a Reds team that’s overmatched on paper — which is exactly the kind of coherent story a beginner should look for when building their first same game parlay.

As always with parlays, check the live odds at your sportsbook of choice before locking anything in, since lines and totals can move closer to first pitch. And remember: a same game parlay is inherently higher risk than a single straight bet since every leg has to hit, so treat this as a fun, small-stakes way to root for one clear outcome rather than the centerpiece of your bankroll for the night.