Pittsburgh Pirates vs Atlanta Braves Prediction, Pick and Preview, August 23 (8/23): MLB

Pittsburgh Pirates vs Atlanta Braves Prediction, Pick and Preview, August 23 (8/23): MLB

Credit: photo by Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

 

Odds

Time 7:05 p.m. EST
Braves money line -270
Braves run line -1.5 (-160)
Pirates money line +220
Pirates run line +1.5 (+135)
Over / under 8

 

Key stats

  Atlanta Braves Pittsburgh Pirates
Record 76-48 47-75
Road / home record 34-24 26-34
Last 10 record 8-2 2-8
Streak W1 L3
Over / under record 62-54-8 56-58-8
Runs / game 4.89 3.63
Runs allowed / game 3.92 5.04

 

Preview

The Pittsburgh Pirates and the Atlanta Braves will play the 2nd game of the series at the PNC Park on Tuesday. The Braves took the narrow victory 2-1 in the first game of the series.  Jake Odorizzi struck out seven and Michael Harris II hit a two-run homer.

Atlanta Braves

The Braves get here with a 76-48 record and have won 8 their last 10 games. The team is averaging 4.89 runs per game. They're batting for .252 AVG, 596 runs scored in 1049 hits and 185 home runs, ranking #3 in offense in the league behind the NY Yankees. Austin Riley is leading the team with 31 home runs and 78 RBI while Dansby Swanson has the better batting average with .292. 

Defensively they are allowing 3.92 runs per game and rank #7 in the league. Max Fried leads the pitching staff with a 2.60 ERA, 133 strikeouts and 11 wins recorded with the Braves. 

Probable Pitcher:

Max Fried (11-4, 2.60 ERA) will be on the mound for the Braves in the 2nd game of the series. Fried grabbed the win against the Mets on Thursday, striking out six batters while allowing two runs on four hits and no walks over seven innings. He has a record of 2-1 with an ERA of 5.32 and 18 strikeouts in 4 appearances against the Pirates in his career.

Pittsburgh Pirates

The Pirates get to this game with a 47-75 record and have lost 8 of their last 10 games. The team is averaging 3.63 runs per game. They're batting for .221 AVG, 435 runs scored in 872 hits and 118 home runs, ranking #28 in offense in the league behind the Washington Nationals. Bryan Reynolds leads the team in home runs with 20, 46 RBI and batting for an average of .258.

Defensively they are allowing 5.04 runs per game and ranking #27 in the league. JT Brubaker leads the pitching staff with a 4.19 ERA, 124 strikeouts and 3 wins with the Pirates.

Probable Pitcher:

JT Brubaker (3-10, 4.19 ERA) will be on the mound for the Pirates in the 2nd game of the series. When Brubaker last pitched on Thursday against the Red Sox, he was battling a blister on his pitching hand, but that didn't stop him from compiling seven strikeouts over seven scoreless innings in what ended up being one of his greatest starts of the season. He has a record of 0-2 with an ERA of 7.30 and 14 strikeouts in 2 appearances versus the Braves in his career.

 

BETTING TRENDS

Atlanta Braves are 6-0 SU in their last 6 games against Pittsburgh.

Atlanta Braves are 7-0 SU in their last 7 games on the road.

Atlanta Braves are 2-4 SU in their last 6 games when playing on the road against Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh Pirates are 2-9 SU in their last 11 games.

The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Pittsburgh's last 7 games against Atlanta.

 

Prediction

The Braves continue to stay hot as they have won 8 of their last 10 games and have averaged 5.7 runs per game in their last 10 games. For this game they'll send Max Fried to the mound who's having a great season and dominated the Pirates the last time they met holding them to only 1 run across 6 innings. The Pirates have lost 5 of their last 7 games at home and 9 of the last 11 overall. Brubaker will start this game who's coming from his best game of the season but already lost vs Braves before. Expect another strong performance from Max Fried and with Brubaker pitching really good lately I think the best play is the under.

PICK: Under 8 (-110)

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