Pittsburgh Pirates vs LA Angels Prediction 5-8-24 Picks

The Los Angeles Angels and the Pittsburgh Pirates meet Wednesday in MLB action from PNC Park. Here’s a Pittsburgh Pirates vs LA Angels Prediction. This will be the final installment in a three-game series. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for the game.

Los Angeles Angels Betting Preview

The Angels took on the Cleveland Guardians over the weekend, winning Friday before a pair of losses in the remaining outings. Following a 4-1 loss to the Pirates on Monday in the opener, in game two Los Angeles cruised to a 9-0 win on 15 team hits. Patrick Sandoval was great in the start with 7.0 clean frames, three hits, one walk and seven Ks.

In the starting pitcher role for the finale, the Angels will send out Jose Soriano. This year in seven games (five starts), Soriano is 1-4 with a 3.77 ERA and 26 strikeouts over 28.2 innings. In 45 games (five starts) total Soriano has a career mark of 2-7 with a 3.69 ERA.

Pittsburgh Pirates Betting Preview

Over on the Pirates’ side, they lost to the Colorado Rockies on Friday before weekend wins 1-0 and 5-3 to take the series. Following their three-run win on Monday, in Tuesday’s game two the Pirates had just three hits in the loss. Starter Quinn Priester put up 4.2 innings with three earned runs on seven hits and two walks.

It’ll be Martin Perez in the starting pitcher role for the Pirates on Wednesday. This year Perez is 1-2 with a 3.15 ERA and 31 Ks in 40.0 innings over seven starts. Perez is 86-83 with a 4.40 ERA in 295 career games (250 starts).

Angels vs Pirates Injury Notes

Angels 2B Luis Rengifo (illness) was not in the lineup for Tuesday’s game. RP Sam Bachman (shoulder) was scheduled to throw off a mound Tuesday.

Pirates SP Thomas Harrington (shoulder) was sent to Single-A Bradenton to begin a rehab assignment.

Why the Pittsburgh Pirates will win

• Probable Starting Pitcher: Martin Perez Record this season: 1-2 ERA: 3.15
• The Angels have lost each of their last 10 day games after playing the previous day.
• The Pirates have won each of their last three games against the Angels following a loss.
• The Angels have failed to cover the run line in seven of their last eight games against NL Central opponents.
• The Pirates have covered the run line in four of their last five games against AL West opponents following a home loss.

Why the Los Angeles Angels will win

• Probable Starting Pitcher: Jose Soriano Record this season: 1-4 ERA: 3.77
• The Pirates have lost each of their last seven games as favorites against AL West opponents following a loss.
• The Angels have won each of their last three games as road underdogs against National League opponents following a win.
• The Pirates have failed to cover the run line in each of their last 12 games as home favorites against American League opponents following a loss.
• The Angels have covered the run line in eight of their last nine games against National League opponents that held a losing record.
• The Pirates have trailed after 5 innings in each of their last seven day games against AL West opponents.
• The Angels have won the first inning in each of their last three Wednesday games as road underdogs.
• The Pirates have trailed after 3 innings in each of their last seven day games against AL West opponents.

Total Runs Facts

• Eight of the Pirates’ last nine day games against American League opponents have gone UNDER the total runs line.
• Seven of the Angels’ last nine day games after playing the previous day have gone UNDER the total runs line.
• The ‘Inning 1 UNDER 0.5 runs’ market has hit in each of the Angels’ last seven games.
• The ‘Inning 1 UNDER 0.5 runs’ market has hit in each of the Pirates’ last six games.

Pittsburgh Pirates vs LA Angels Prediction

I’ll take a stab on the Pirates. Pittsburgh is going to need a huge bounce-back after Tuesday’s game, though. Perez had a good start versus the Giants recently (6.0 innings; no earned), but in two of his last three starts he’s been shaky. Perez has a combined seven earned in 9.1 innings in that pair, going 0-2. Soriano is coming off a nice outing himself (6.0 innings; zero earned) but went just 1.2 frames with four earned versus the Twins on April 27.

On Tuesday the Pirates played pretty rough on both sides. Only four players got on base, and the first three pitchers combined for seven earned runs. Pittsburgh had nine combined runs in their previous two games though, so they can score when all goes well. The Pirates are going to need to get the offense together in order to win this series.