FanDuel fantasy baseball tips: Starting pitcher rankings-May 29

9. player. 32. Lackey and the Cardinals open their big series against the Dodgers tonight. In his five starts this month, Lackey has been a little inconsistent but compiled a solid 2.32 ERA to go with his 1-2 record.  He’s been especially good at home where he is 2-1 with a 1.63 ERA in four starts. As long as you don’t need a ton of strikeouts, he’s a good, safe option tonight against LA. . St. Louis Cardinals. vs Dodgers. John Lackey

vs Royals. Jake Arrieta. 8. player. 9. Arrieta didn’t look great in his last start allowing six runs, but only three of those were earned. The start also came after back-to-back dominant outings allowing just two runs in 15 total innings.  Arrieta should be lined up for a bounce-back outing against the Royals although KC  is a hard team to strike out. Arrieta has 62 strikeouts this season in 58 innings with at least seven punch-outs in each of his last four outings. He’s a reliable play today as he takes the mound in Chicago where he is 2-3 with a 2.41 ERA in his five starts this season.. Chicago Cubs

vs Pirates. James Shields. 7. player. 127. Shields improved to 6-0 in his last start as he beat the Dodgers by allowing three runs on five hits in seven innings.  He has turned in three straight quality starts and has 27 strikeouts in 20 innings over that span. Look for him to step into a great pitching duel tonight against the Pirates and Liriano in which both are good options, but Liriano gets the narrow win based on facing a slightly less-potent lineup in my opinion. . San Diego Padres

@ Padres. Francisco Liriano. 6. player. 4. Liriano has been up and down this month getting crushed by the Twins two starts ago and rebounding with an excellent performance against the Mets in his last outing.  Against New York, he fanned 12 in six innings while allowing just one run on six hits.  His strikeout numbers have been there this month with 34 K’s in 29.1 innings, but he has had a few rough outings.  Oddly, most of those bad starts have come at home, so it’s a good thing he’s in San Diego tonight where he brings a sparkling 1.91 road ERA with a 1-1 road record to the mound.. Pittsburgh Pirates

Philadelphia Phillies. vs Rockies. Cole Hamels. 5. player. 6. Hamels has been on a nice run allowing two runs or fewer in six of his last seven outings. He faces the Rockies tonight who he held to just one run on six hits 11 days ago while striking out seven in 7.1 innings.  Hamels strikeout rate has been solid at just about one per inning (67 in 66.1 IP), and he’ll look to pick up his fifth straight win as he takes the mound tonight.