Cincinnati Reds at Pittsburgh Pirates Saturday Betting Preview

The Cincinnati Reds, who were just officially eliminated from the playoffs, will travel to Pittsburgh to take on the Pirates Saturday for the 2nd to last game of the season at 6:35 pm EST.

The Reds sit in the 3rd position in the wild card, seven games back from the St. Louis Cardinals, but there are not enough games left to make that climb.

The Pirates are and have been in the last of the National League Central, 36 games back from the Milwaukee Brewers. They have been eliminated from playoff contention for the past couple of weeks.

The Pirates defeated the Reds in their matchup last night in game 1 of the series, 9-2. Pittsburgh is now 60-100, and Cincinnati is 82-78.

Odds

The Reds are the favorite to win this one by a margin of 1.5 runs. Their odds to win at this spread is -115 and -105 for the Pirates to cover. The over/under for total runs scored is 8.5 with odds of -110 to bet the over or the under. The moneyline for the Reds to win is -190. The Pirates’ moneyline sits at +160.

Pitching Matchup

Tyler Mahle is the expected starter for the Reds. He will take on Max Kranick from the Pirates. Mahle has had a solid season thus far with a 13-6 record and posting a 3.54 ERA with 204 strikeouts. Kranack is 2-3 with an ERA of 6.23 and 30 strikeouts.

Mahle got the win in his last time out, going for six innings giving up three hits and no runs. He struck out six batters in that game. Kranack also got a win against the Phillies in his last appearance. He pitched five innings giving up four hits, no runs, and striking out 5.

Keys to the Game

The Reds look to be the favorites in this one, but any Reds fan would tell you that this may not be the case. They put themselves in a great position but have struggled on consistency from both sides of the ball during the latter half of this season.

Mahle is one of Cincinnati’s best starters this season which should help them with a strong performance from their pitching. He will need to pitch similarly to his last time out to give the Reds a chance in this one.

The Pirates will be hoping to get more production out of their bats as they did last night, scoring 9 with 8 of those coming in the 8th inning to give Cincinnati’s reliever Amir Garrett (0-4) the loss.

Expected Outcome

I know the Reds have struggled towards the end of this season, but I expect Mahle to have a good performance to give the Reds a win. Hopefully, they will get the chance in their final game of the season, Sunday, to win their last series of the season.

The Reds have had a good season as they were fighting for a playoff spot for most of the season. Their struggles to close out easy series and the Cardinals’ win streak took that last playoff spot from them.