A couple of young unknown southpaws square off when Jeff Locke of the Pirates takes on Christopher Rusin of the Cubs, but that should actually lead to low scoring the way these teams have hit lefties. Go ‘under’ on Sunday.
Look for a somewhat surprising low scoring game in a matchup of two inexperienced southpaw rookies on Sunday when Christopher Rusin and the Chicago Cubs (52-86 overall, 18-52 away) look to complete the three-game road sweep when they take on Jeff Locke and the Pittsburgh Pirates (72-65 overall, 30-37 home) from PNC Park in Pittsburgh, PA at 1:35 ET.
The posted total at 5 Dimes is 8½ for this contest with the current odds on the ‘under’ set at -109.
To say the Pirates are in a freefall would be a severe understatement. They had a golden opportunity to pick up some ground in the wild card race during this six game home stand vs. the team with the worst record in all of baseball in the Houston Astros and these Cubs who were an atrocious 16-62 in the road before this series began. Instead, Pittsburg is 2-3 so far on the home stand and it is trying to avoid the improbable home sweep today.
Sure, the Pirates somehow still trail the St. Louis Cardinals by only 1½ games for the last wild card spot, but the Los Angeles Dodgers also split those two teams one game ahead of the Pirates and the young Bucs are simply wilting from the pressure of an unexpected playoff hunt, as Pittsburgh has gone 9-19 in its last 28 games.
One move that the Pirates made recently was releasing the ineffective Erik Bedard, and replacing him in the rotation with Locke, who had made four starts for the team last year as a late September call-up, allowing three runs or less in three of them.
Unfortunately, Locke was not good in his 2012 debut, allowing five runs on seven hits in five innings of a 5-1 loss to the Astros on Monday. He does have a chance to improve today though, considering how bad the Cubs have been vs. southpaws. Chicago is batting .221 vs. left-handed pitchers over the whole season, and that average has dipped to a ghastly .206 over the last 10 games!
Furthermore, most of that futility came vs. lefties that the Cubs had faced before, and they are now facing one that they have never seen, which could make Locke even tougher to hit this afternoon.
Speaking of utility vs. southpaws, the Pirates have not exactly been setting the house on fire either during their slump, batting .228 vs. left-handers in the last 10 games. Things have been so bad for the Pirates that even Andrew McCutchen, he of the .341 batting average, is hitless in three straight games.
That could make things easier on Rusin, who pitched quite well in his Major League debut August 21st on the road vs. the Milwaukee Brewers, allowing only one run and one measly hit in five innings before getting torched in his second start vs. the Washington Nationals, lasting only one inning while allowing five runs. He too has a chance to improve in his first ever appearance vs. Pittsburgh.
Finally, the Pirates simply do not have the look of a playoff contender right now while losing to teams that they should beat, as the lowly Cubs are now 4-3 in the last seven head-to-head meetings. We really do not expect much offense from either club, so go ‘under’ in Pittsburgh on Sunday.
The posted total at 5 Dimes is 8½ for this contest with the current odds on the ‘under’ set at -109.
To say the Pirates are in a freefall would be a severe understatement. They had a golden opportunity to pick up some ground in the wild card race during this six game home stand vs. the team with the worst record in all of baseball in the Houston Astros and these Cubs who were an atrocious 16-62 in the road before this series began. Instead, Pittsburg is 2-3 so far on the home stand and it is trying to avoid the improbable home sweep today.Sure, the Pirates somehow still trail the St. Louis Cardinals by only 1½ games for the last wild card spot, but the Los Angeles Dodgers also split those two teams one game ahead of the Pirates and the young Bucs are simply wilting from the pressure of an unexpected playoff hunt, as Pittsburgh has gone 9-19 in its last 28 games.
One move that the Pirates made recently was releasing the ineffective Erik Bedard, and replacing him in the rotation with Locke, who had made four starts for the team last year as a late September call-up, allowing three runs or less in three of them.
Unfortunately, Locke was not good in his 2012 debut, allowing five runs on seven hits in five innings of a 5-1 loss to the Astros on Monday. He does have a chance to improve today though, considering how bad the Cubs have been vs. southpaws. Chicago is batting .221 vs. left-handed pitchers over the whole season, and that average has dipped to a ghastly .206 over the last 10 games!
Furthermore, most of that futility came vs. lefties that the Cubs had faced before, and they are now facing one that they have never seen, which could make Locke even tougher to hit this afternoon.
Speaking of utility vs. southpaws, the Pirates have not exactly been setting the house on fire either during their slump, batting .228 vs. left-handers in the last 10 games. Things have been so bad for the Pirates that even Andrew McCutchen, he of the .341 batting average, is hitless in three straight games.
That could make things easier on Rusin, who pitched quite well in his Major League debut August 21st on the road vs. the Milwaukee Brewers, allowing only one run and one measly hit in five innings before getting torched in his second start vs. the Washington Nationals, lasting only one inning while allowing five runs. He too has a chance to improve in his first ever appearance vs. Pittsburgh.
Finally, the Pirates simply do not have the look of a playoff contender right now while losing to teams that they should beat, as the lowly Cubs are now 4-3 in the last seven head-to-head meetings. We really do not expect much offense from either club, so go ‘under’ in Pittsburgh on Sunday.
MLB Pick: Cubs, Pirates ‘under’ 8½ (-109) +++
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