Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Milwaukee Brewers – 8/21/20 MLB Pick, Odds, and Prediction

The Milwaukee Brewers and the Pittsburgh Pirates meet in an NL Central matchup from PNC Park on Friday night.

The Milwaukee Brewers come into this one looking to rebound from a 7-1 loss to the Minnesota Twins in their last game. Justin Smoak’s solo home run accounted for the lone RBI for the Brew Crew in defeat while Christian Yelich, Keston Hiura, Eric Sogard and Orlando Arcia each had a base knock as the Brewers had just five hits as a team in the losing effort. Brandon Woodruff took the loss, falling to 1-2 on the year after allowing two runs on nine hits while striking out three over five innings of work. Adrian Houser will start here and is 1-1 with a 3.27 ERA and 18 strikeouts this season. In his career, Houser is 1-1 with a 6.43 ERA and 14 strikeouts against Pittsburgh.

The Pittsburgh Pirates will look to rebound from a 2-0 loss to the Cleveland Indians in Thursday’s series finale. Jacob Stallings and Kevin Newman each had a pair of hits while Erik Gonzalez, Josh Bell and JT Riddle all had base hits as the Pirates had just seven hits as a team in the loss, with none of them going for extra bases in defeat. Trevor Williams took the loss after allowing one earned run on six hits while striking out five over four innings of work, falling to 1-4 on the year with the loss. Chad Kuhl will start here and is 3-0 with a 1.72 ERA and 38 strikeouts against Milwaukee.

Milwaukee is 4-1 in their last 5 road games and 0-5 in their last 5 games to start a series while the under is 5-1 in their last 6 road games against a right-handed starter. Pittsburgh is 0-4 in their last 4 games as a home underdog and 29-64 in their last 93 games overall while the over is 19-9 in their last 28 games within the division. Milwaukee is 19-7 in the last 26 meetings between these two teams.

Normally I’d say that the Pirates would be a welcome opponent for the Brewers after a beating from the Twins but Pittsburgh did play the Indians tough but just couldn’t scratch runs across against a Cy Young candidate in Shane Bieber, and the Pirates have the advantage of being at home for this one and not having had to travel may be the difference. It’s a lean, but I’m thinking if Pittsburgh were to steal a game, it’s probably this one. Give me the Pirates for a rare win here.