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The Pittsburgh Pirates take on the San Francisco Giants. Check out our MLB odds series for our Pirates Giants prediction and pick.
Zach Thompson gets the call for the Pirates, while Alex Wood takes the hill for the Giants.
Zach Thompson has a 5.08 ERA. He has endured a wild, roller-coaster season. His ERA in the month of April was just over 10 runs. Then in May and June, he was terrific, pitching to an ERA just below 2.50 for those two months. Thompson gave up more than two earned runs in only one of nine starts in May and June. Then, he got hurt in mid-June and had to miss two weeks. Since his return on July 3, he simply hasn't been the same pitcher. Thompson got shredded in July, posting a 6.33 ERA for that month. In two August starts, he hasn't really been able to turn things around. His last two starts have encompassed nine innings pitched. He has allowed five earned runs, which is exactly a 5.00 ERA for August.
Being able to pitch deep into games is something Thompson hasn't been able to do. Since May 15, he has pitched six full innings only once, on July 14 against the Brewers, which was his best outing since his return to the rotation in July. Thompson does not strike out large numbers of hitters. He has to find ways to get hitters off balance so that they aren't squaring him up.
Alex Wood entered the month of July with a season ERA of 5.03. Now that ERA stands at 4.17. Wood ran into the red-hot Dodgers in early August and got roughed up. However, there's no shame in being tagged by the Dodgers. Everyone in the Giants' clubhouse wanted to see if Wood could bounce back against the loaded San Diego Padres on Aug. 8. He definitely did, throwing 6 1/3 scoreless innings. Wood is a far better pitcher than he was in the first few months of the season. He posted a 1.65 ERA in the month of July and seems to be carrying that level of form into the dog days of summer.
Courtesy of FanDuel, here are the Pirates-Giants MLB odds.
MLB Odds: Pirates-Giants Odds
Pittsburgh Pirates: +1.5 (-102)
San Francisco Giants: -1.5 (-118)
Over: 8 (-112)
Article Continues Below
Under: 8 (-108)
Why The Pirates Could Cover the Spread
The Pirates have lost the first two games of this series, going up against Carlos Rodon and Logan Webb, two prime pitchers. Alex Wood is pitching well right now, but he isn't as good as Rodon or Webb. Zach Thompson has shown the ability to pitch well — not consistently, but he can certainly do well when he is on top of his game. If Thompson can throw a solid game, the Pirates, who have had a miserable road trip in the Pacific time zone, are bound to get a few of the clutch hits they generally haven't produced over the past week.
Why The Giants Could Cover the Spread
The Giants are getting elite pitching this weekend in San Francisco. They are smothering the Pirates and are not making the costly defensive lapses which have crushed them at earlier points in the 2022 season. The bats still aren't performing well, however, and that means San Francisco is due for a bust-out game at the plate. The Giants threatened a lot in their Saturday night 2-0 win, but could not get the hits which would have broken the game wide open. Those hits are going to come in this game against an inconsistent Zach Thompson.
Final Pirates-Giants Prediction & Pick
The Giants have covered on the run line in each of the first two games of this series. The Pirates are fading on an August road trip three time zones away. Ride with San Francisco one more time.
Final Pirates-Giants Prediction & Pick: Giants -1.5
