Cincinnati Reds vs. Pittsburgh Pirates – 9/15/20 MLB Pick, Odds, and Prediction

The Pittsburgh Pirates and the Cincinnati Reds meet in an NL Central division matchup in MLB action from Great American Ballpark on Tuesday.

The Pittsburgh Pirates will look to rebound after being swept in both legs of a double-header on Monday, dropping game one by a final score of 3-1 and game two by a 9-4 count. Game one saw Colin Moran belt a solo home run as the lone RBI for the Pirates in the loss with Erik Gonzales, Josh Bell and Kevin Newman making up the four base hits for Pittsburgh in the opener. Cody Ponce gave up one run in four innings, not factoring in the decision while Sam Howard ended up with the loss in relief to drop to 2-2 on the year. Game two saw Ke’Bryan Hayes have a two-run home run while Josh Bell added a solo shot and Moran had an RBI in the second game as well to make up Pittsburgh’s scoring in the loss. Nik Turley took the loss in relief in game two after Mitch Keller allowed three runs in three innings in the start. Joe Musgrove will start here and is 904 with a 5.40 ERA and 26 strikeouts this season. In his career, Musgrove is 3-1 with a 3.51 ERA and 27 strikeouts against Cincinnati.

The Cincinnati Reds will look to build on their double-header sweep from Monday. Game one saw all of Cincinnati’s damage on the scoreboard done with the long ball as Tyler Stephenson had a walk-off two-run home run and Joey Votto had a solo shot while Jose Garcia went 2 for 3 and Tucker Barnhart added a hit to make up Cincy’s five hits in the win. Trevor Bauer gave up one run on four hits with 12 strikeouts in 6.1 innings in the start but it was Raisel Iglesias who got the win in relief. Game two saw Mike Moustakas belt a three-run home run while Brian Goodwin had a two-run shot. Votto had a solo homer once again while Shogo Akiyama had an RBI as well and Kyle Farmer added a base hit to finish off the Reds’ offense. Anthony DeSclafani gave up four runs on seven hits with seven K’s in the win, but it was Sal Romano who got the win in relief. Michael Lorenzen will start here and is 1-1 with a 5.23 ERA and 17 strikeouts this season. In his career, Lorenzen is 5-2 with a 2.17 ERA against the Pirates over 35 appearances with just three starts.

Pittsburgh is 18-41 in their last 59 road games and 17-37 in their last 54 games as an underdog while the under is 4-1 in their last 5 games within the division. Cincinnati is 1-4 in their last 5 home games and 6-14 in their last 20 home games against a right-handed starter while the under is 5-2-1 in their last 8 games overall. Pittsburgh is 23-11 in the last 34 meetings between these two teams and the over is 5-1 in the last 6 meetings between these two teams in Cincinnati.

Lorenzen isn’t a guy I’d really like to lay juice with in a start, but I’m expecting this to be a bullpen game and I think what it really boils down to, is that the Reds have everything to play for here in terms of their playoff lives while Pittsburgh is back to providing no value, losing six straight coming into this game and I just think that the Reds come out to play and get the job done here. Give me the Reds and lay the juice here.