The Pirates are actually scoring runs right now to go with their fine pitching, and they beat the Reds’ Johnny Cueto last week. The highly regarded Brad Lincoln is 3-0 with a 1.04 ERA, so take Pittsburgh to upset Wednesday.
There could be a nice upset in store on Wednesday night when Brad Lincoln and the Pittsburgh Pirates (28-26 overall, 12-15 away) take on Johnny Cueto and the Cincinnati Reds (30-24 overall, 15-10 home) in the second game of a three-game series from Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, OH at 7:10 ET.
The money line at 5 Dimes has Pittsburgh as a nice-sized underdog for this contest at current odds of +163.
This is surprisingly a matchup of the top two teams in the National League Central Division right now, as the Reds are in first place but the Pirates have now moved to within two games by winning eight of their last 10 contests, with the most recent being a 8-4 win in the series opener here last night.
The Pirates have hung in the race with their fine pitching all year, as they rank third in all of baseball with their 3.28 team ERA. There starting pitchers have a cumulative 3.62 ERA and they also rank third in the majors with their 2.65 bullpen ERA. The problem has been the offense, as the Pirates rank dead last in the National League with a .223 team batting average.
That may be starting to change though as last night marked third time in four games that the Pirates scored at least six runs afterdoing so twice in a three-game series vs. the Milwaukee Brewersthis past weekend. Pittsburgh pounded out 12 hits including three home runs last night and today’s starter Lincoln would like to see at least some of that power surge carry over for one more game.
Lincoln was a highly regarded first round draft pick (fourth overall) by the Pirates in 2006, but he has been mostly a disappointment at the Major League level despite Pittsburgh giving him plenty of chances as primarily a last place team. He has pitched mainly out of the bullpen this year, but to his credit he has been lights out, going 3-0 with a 1.04 ERA and 0.92 WHIP with the league hitting only .174 off of him with 26 strikeouts vs. just eight walks in 26 innings.
Lincoln did make one spot start, and it was a Quality Start in a 3-2 win at Miami where he allowed only two runs on four hits in six innings. He is filling in for the injured Charlie Morton today, but Lincoln might have a chance to stick in the rotation if he pitches that well again and he is certainly not lacking in potential.
The Reds has been on a bit of a roll entering this series and they had just taken two out of three from the Houston Astros while scoring 19 runs in the three games. They should also feel confident with their ace Cueto on the hill tonight.
Cueto was certainly off to a great start this year, and he bounced back for possibly his worst start of the season vs. the Colorado Rockies at home two starts ago where he allowed five runs on 11 hits in 4.3 innings by tossing a Quality Start vs. these Pirates last Wednesday, allowing two runs on five hits in seven innings in an unfortunate 2-1 loss.
With that said, Cueto has not had the same great command lately that he had earlier on. He has a brutal 1.71 WHIP in his last three starts and even in the otherwise fine outing vs. the Bucs last week, he issued four walks vs. five strikeouts, meaning he allowed nine baserunners in the seven innings. Also, Cueto’s current FIP of 3.62 and xFIP of 4.07 lag badly behind his ERA of 2.54.
Now we obviously still have a great deal of respect for Cueto, but this looks like nice value for Pittsburgh considering how well the Pirates are playing and the current form of today’s pitchers.
The money line at 5 Dimes has Pittsburgh as a nice-sized underdog for this contest at current odds of +163.
This is surprisingly a matchup of the top two teams in the National League Central Division right now, as the Reds are in first place but the Pirates have now moved to within two games by winning eight of their last 10 contests, with the most recent being a 8-4 win in the series opener here last night.The Pirates have hung in the race with their fine pitching all year, as they rank third in all of baseball with their 3.28 team ERA. There starting pitchers have a cumulative 3.62 ERA and they also rank third in the majors with their 2.65 bullpen ERA. The problem has been the offense, as the Pirates rank dead last in the National League with a .223 team batting average.
That may be starting to change though as last night marked third time in four games that the Pirates scored at least six runs afterdoing so twice in a three-game series vs. the Milwaukee Brewersthis past weekend. Pittsburgh pounded out 12 hits including three home runs last night and today’s starter Lincoln would like to see at least some of that power surge carry over for one more game.
Lincoln was a highly regarded first round draft pick (fourth overall) by the Pirates in 2006, but he has been mostly a disappointment at the Major League level despite Pittsburgh giving him plenty of chances as primarily a last place team. He has pitched mainly out of the bullpen this year, but to his credit he has been lights out, going 3-0 with a 1.04 ERA and 0.92 WHIP with the league hitting only .174 off of him with 26 strikeouts vs. just eight walks in 26 innings.
Lincoln did make one spot start, and it was a Quality Start in a 3-2 win at Miami where he allowed only two runs on four hits in six innings. He is filling in for the injured Charlie Morton today, but Lincoln might have a chance to stick in the rotation if he pitches that well again and he is certainly not lacking in potential.
The Reds has been on a bit of a roll entering this series and they had just taken two out of three from the Houston Astros while scoring 19 runs in the three games. They should also feel confident with their ace Cueto on the hill tonight.
Cueto was certainly off to a great start this year, and he bounced back for possibly his worst start of the season vs. the Colorado Rockies at home two starts ago where he allowed five runs on 11 hits in 4.3 innings by tossing a Quality Start vs. these Pirates last Wednesday, allowing two runs on five hits in seven innings in an unfortunate 2-1 loss.
With that said, Cueto has not had the same great command lately that he had earlier on. He has a brutal 1.71 WHIP in his last three starts and even in the otherwise fine outing vs. the Bucs last week, he issued four walks vs. five strikeouts, meaning he allowed nine baserunners in the seven innings. Also, Cueto’s current FIP of 3.62 and xFIP of 4.07 lag badly behind his ERA of 2.54.
Now we obviously still have a great deal of respect for Cueto, but this looks like nice value for Pittsburgh considering how well the Pirates are playing and the current form of today’s pitchers.
Pirates +163 ---
Комментариев нет:
Отправить комментарий