Cincinnati Reds at Pittsburgh Pirates 8/23/19 MLB Free Pick
The Cincinnati Reds are taking a road record that is questionable at best to face the Pittsburgh Pirates. While the game is going to be interesting as the Pirates are a team that has struggled all year and actually had a downright horrible bullpen. What else makes the game interesting is the fact the Reds are battling some injuries on the year and have several players that are sitting on the disabled list or even on the day-to-day report. Granted, the Pirates have some injuries, but those injuries are limited to the already horrible pitching staff this year. No matter what, PNC Park will host the bottom 2 teams in the National League Central on Friday night.
Cincinnati Reds Preview
With the hitting for the Reds, the team has not been the best at all. What else does not help is the fact the Reds did trade away some offensive talent at the trade deadline, but it actually looks liked it was a slightly improvement. The Reds have recorded 1059 hits this year with a team average of .250. The Reds have scored 570 runs with 177 homers on the year. Eugenio Suarez is the hitter the Reds have saw light the scoreboard up with 34 homers and 78 RBIs. Jose Iglesias is the hitter for average for the Reds at a clip of .295 this year.
When it comes to the pitching staff the Reds have been able to do decent with a team ERA of 4.15 and have kept the opponents to hitting at a clip of .241 this year. As a team the Reds have struck out 1216 batters and walked 423 batters. Anthony DeSclafani is the pitcher the Reds are putting on the mound to tart this game. He has posted a 8-7 record and a 4.40 ERA. DeSclafani has thrown a total of 122.2 innings this year with 127 strikeouts, 126 hits, and has walked 39 batters.
Pittsburgh Pirates
The offense for the Pirates has been playing decent at times. However, the Pirates are also a team that has had some hiccups and have not really provided the run support that the pitchers need to have on the year, which definitely explains the losing record. On the year the Pirates have recorded a total of 1149 hits with an average of .262 this year. The Pirates have managed to record a total of 577 runs this year with 134 homers. Josh Bell has been the power hitter for the Pirates on the year with 31 homers and 99 runners brought home. Bryan Reynolds is fairly new and leads the Pirates in average at a clip of .325.
The major struggle for the Pirates outside of the lack of power offensively is the pitching. The Pirates have posted a 5.06 team ERA so far with the opponents hitting at a clip of .264 this year. When it comes to striking out the opponent the Pirates have managed to get 1112 strikeouts, but has walked 451 hitters. Mitch Keller is going to the mound for the Pirates in this game here. Keller has managed to get a 1-2 record and an 8.86 ERA. He has thrown a total of 21.1 innings with 24 strikeouts, but has walked 10 batters while giving up 33 hits.
Reds vs Pirates Line: Pittsburgh Pirates -105 O/U 9
My FREE MLB Pick: Cincinnati Reds -116
Playing at home for the Pirates has not helped the Pirates out much this year. The pitching for the Pirates has been horrible this year and that is going to really be hard for the Pirates to bring home a win in this game. What else does not help the Pirates out is the hitters have to face a Reds pitching staff that has been very difficult to hit and score on this year. Look for the Pirates offense to continue to have issues in this game as the Reds upcoming hitters actually score and make the game uncomfortable for the Pirates pitching. Final Score, Cincinnati Reds win 6-3.
