It was a 6-4 victory for the Pittsburgh Pirates in game one as they face the Texas Rangers. It is time to continue our MLB odds series with a Rangers-Pirates pick, prediction, and how-to-watch.
The Pirates' offense is starting to come back alive, after scoring six runs last night. They have now scored 33 runs in their last five games, after struggling earlier in the month. For the Rangers, they struggled with Luis Ortiz all night. Ortiz went 7.2 innings giving up just two runs. The Rangers tried to fight back against the Pirates closer with a two-run home run from Josh Jung, but it was not enough as they fell to the Pirates.
Here are the Rangers-Pirates MLB odds, courtesy of FanDuel.
MLB Odds: Rangers-Pirates Odds
Texas Rangers: -1.5 (-102)
Pittsburgh Pirates: +1.5 (-118)
Over: 8 (-115)
Under: 8 (-105)
How To Watch Rangers vs. Pirates
TV: BSSW/ATTP
Stream: MLB.TV
Time: 6:35 PM ET/ 3:35 PM PT
*Watch MLB games LIVE with fuboTV (click for a free trial)*
Why The Rangers Could Cover The Spread
The Rangers are the top-scoring team in all of baseball being led by Adolis Garcia. Garcia is third in the majors with 14 home runs, and first in the majors with 49 RBIs. Much of that RBI work has come this month. In May Garcia has 19 RBIs with six home runs. Garcia has not had much success in his career against Rich Hill though. He has just one hit in six at-bats against him and has not driven in a run. Last night Garcia did not have a major opportunity to drive in runs. He was not at-bat with a runner in scoring position all night, but if he gets that opportunity tonight, he will come through. On the season, Garcia is batting .389 when runners are in scoring position.
Also hitting well with runners in scoring position in Marcus Semien. He is hitting .511 in those situations this year, with a 1.252 OPS. He is coming through in the clutch in major ways. When he is up with runners in scoring position and two outs, he is hitting .588 in those situations, while hitting .333 late in games when the score is close. Semien is hitting .354 this month with 16 RBIs and scoring 18 runs. The one-two punch of Gracia and Semien, plus Josh Jung and Jonah Heim make this offense potentially explosive on any given night.
Beyond having a dominant offense, the Rangers are ninth in the league in ERA this year at 3.87. The Rangers will be sending Nathan Eovaldi to the mound today in this one. He is currently 5-2 with a 2.83 ERA on the season. He went on a streak of three straight games without giving up a run before giving up three in seven innings last time out. Regardless, Evoladi still has a 1.14 ERA this month with two wins, and just 13 hits in 23.2 innings.
Why The Pirates Could Cover The Spread
The Pirates' offense has nearly ground to a halt this month. They have scored just 53 runs in the 18 games this month, good for an average of 2.94 runs per game this month. The Pirates are starting to make a turn around though. They have scored 33 of their 53 runs this month in their last five games. That is averaging 6.6 runs per game. Last night it was Tucupita Marcano with the grand slam to help pace the offense. That gives him six RBIs in the last two games.
Bryan Reynolds leads the team in RBIs with 27, but his production has nearly stopped. Reynolds did get two hits last night, drew a walk, and scored a run. It was just his third multi-hit game of the month. Reynolds has not faced Evoladi before but will hope to start strong against him. Much of the Pirates lineup who have faced him have not found success, but Carlos Santana has. Santana has hit .429 against Evoladi, with an RBI. He is hitting just .180 on the month though, with a .301 on-base percentage.
Last night Luis Ortiz pitched a gem, and tonight Rich Hill will be hoping to do that today. Hill is 4-3 on the season with a 3.80 ERA. Last time out he went six innings giving up just one hit while striking out seven. It was the second time this year that Hill has not given up a run and struck out seven batters. Hill has four games this year where he has gone with giving up just one or fewer runs on the year, and he will be looking to do so again today.
Final Rangers-Pirates Prediction & Pick
The Pirates are starting to find the offense that got them going to begin the season. Still, some players are in major slumps. They face a pitcher today that is hot in Nathan Eovaldi. This game could be a pitcher's duel if Rich Hill is on his game again. Hill has struggled with giving up home runs this year but has improved on that in his last five starts. This one will be tight, and in tight games, take the runs.
Final Rangers-Pirates Prediction & Pick: Pirates +1.5 (-118)
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