Cincinnati Reds vs. Pittsburgh Pirates – 9/16/20 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 Wednesday.

The Pittsburgh Pirates will look to rebound from a 4-1 loss to the Reds on Tuesday. Colin Moran had the lone RBI for the Pirates in the losing effort while Erik Gonzalez and Ke’Bryan Hayes each had a double. Josh Bell and Cole Tucker each had base hits as well as the Pirates had just five hits as a team in the losing effort. Joe Musgrove took the loss, falling to 0-5 on the year after allowing four runs on six hits while striking out eight over five innings of work. JT Brubaker will start here and is 1-1 with a 5.34 ERA and 32 strikeouts this season. This will be Brubaker’s first career start against Cincinnati.

The Cincinnati Reds will look to build off of their win over the Pirates on Tuesday. Tucker Barnhart had a solo home run while Greddy Galvis, Brian Goodwin and Mike Moustakas each had an RBI to finish off the scoring for the Reds in the win. Shogo Akiyama and Nick Castellanos each had a pair of hits as well as the Reds had just six hits as a team in the winning effort for Cincy. Michael Lorenzen got the win on the mound after allowing one run on four hits while striking out six over five in five innings in the start. Amir Garrett got the save in the game after closing out the 9th for his 1st save of the year. Luis Castillo will start here and is 2-5 with a 3.44 ERA and 66 strikeouts this season. In his career, Castillo is 3-3 with a 3.00 ERA and 51 strikeouts against Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh is 18-43 in their last 61 road games and 0-5 in their last 5 games against a team with a losing record while the over is 5-2 in their last 7 games as a road underdog. Cincinnati is 4-1 in their last 5 games overall and 4-1 in their last 5 games within the division while the over is 9-3 in their last 12 home games. Pittsburgh is 2-5 in the last 7 meetings between these two teams.

I’m really tempted by Pittsburgh and the plus money, but the Pirates continue to lose games, not that many had expectations for them, and while he’s been involved in quite a few wins, JT Brubaker is still a young arm that’s not used to being in high-pressure spots like this. There may not be any pressure on the Pirates as a whole, but the Reds are still in the hunt for a playoff spot and will do anything to get there, by any means necessary. I’ll side with Cincinnati on the run line in this one.