Pittsburgh Pirates at Cincinnati Reds Betting Preview/Prop Play
05 August 2021
The Pirates come into this game with an overall record of 41-67, and they are in the last place in the NL Central. Pittsburgh has been even worse on the road as this team has managed to go just 18-37 away from PNC Park.
Cincinnati is currently in second place in the NL Central, and they are in third place in the Wild Card chase. The Reds have improved their record to 57-51 on the year, but this team still has some work left to do.
The Cincinnati Reds are -242 on the money line in this matchup against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Pirates Struggling to Score
Pittsburgh has yet to reach the 400 total runs mark on the year, making them one of the lowest-scoring teams in baseball. The Pirates also traded away some of their top offensive talent at the Trade Deadline, and that won’t help in the last few months.
The pitching staff in Pittsburgh has also pitched to an ERA of 5.03, and getting outs could be a big challenge in this game. Wil Crowe will be on the mound, and he has gone just 3-5 with a 5.40 earned run average.
Gray Starting For Reds
Even though the Reds have been playing much better baseball of late, they are still waiting on a few players to get things going. Sonny Gray is one of those players, and he will be on the mound to begin the series.
Gray comes into Thursday night with a record of 3-6, and he also has an ERA of 4.26. The Reds do have some solid arms in the bullpen, and that unit could see plenty of action in this matchup.
The Reds can really hit, and veteran Joey Votto has been leading that charge of late. Votto now leads the team with 21 home runs and 61 RBIs, but he has plenty of help in this lineup.
Dunkel's Pick: Cincinnati (-1.5); Under
The Pittsburgh Pirates are stuck playing the role of spoiler for the rest of the season, and they haven’t done a good job of that up to this point. This roster is just not good enough to be competitive with many teams, especially one that is trying to make a playoff push.
Cincinnati has an offense that can put up runs in a hurry, and it’s not going to be a fun weekend for the Pirates pitching staff. This game could out of hand in a hurry as the Reds are going to rack up some wins over their division rivals.
Pittsburgh might be able to pick up a win or two this weekend in Cincinnati, but it’s not happening in this game. Bet the Cincinnati Reds -1.5 over the Pittsburgh Pirates as the home team picks up a blowout win.
Prop Play
Jesse Winker (+182) Over 1.5 Hits
It's been a breakout season for the Reds former No. 1 pick. Coming into tonight, Winker leads the team in hits (119) and total bases (212), and is tied for first in HRs (21),
He slumped a little in July when he hit only .241, but started to pick it up over the last 15 days with a .346 average (18-for-52), including 9 doubles and a pair of HRs.
The Reds' rightfielder will certainly like the sight of Pittsburgh pitching as he's already posted a .538 average (7-for-13) with 3 doubles and an HR.
With Cincinnati needing a big night to stay in the thick of the wild card chase, we'll take Winker (+182) to lead the offense and go over 1.5 hits.
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