National League Wild Card Chase: Cincinnati Reds at Pittsburgh Pirates Betting Preview

The Reds (75-69) are even with the Padres for the lead for the 2nd wildcard spot, but the Padres have played 2 less games than the Reds. The Pirates (52-91) have struggled all season and continue to be at the bottom of the NL Central.

The Reds will be looking to get some needed wins against a struggling team as they have only gone 4-6 in their last 10 which includes the last 2 games of the last series against the Cardinals. The Pirates have also dropped six of their last 10.

Odds

The Reds are a -1.5 run favorite (+100) in this Tuesday night game.The Pirates at +1.5 have the odds of -120. The moneyline for the Reds and the Pirates are -155 and +133, respectively. The over/under for the game is set at 8.

Pitching Matchup

Wade Miley (12-5) will take the mound for the Reds in Pittsburgh as he looks to continue his productive season with his 2.89 ERA and 122 strikeouts. Miley pitched last against the Cubs where he went seven innings only allowing five hits and one run.

Dillon Peters (0-2) is the probable starter for the Pirates as he is expected to make his 5th start of the season. He has pitched 18.2 innings with an ERA of 3.38 and 15 strikeouts. In his last outing, Peters pitched four innings allowing three hits and two earned runs.

Stats

The Reds are ranked 8th in runs scored this season in the MLB with 701 runs total and 4.9 runs per game. They are also seventh in the league in home runs and are batting .248 as a team this season.

The Pirates, on the other hand, have scored the fewest runs in the MLB with 525 total and 3.7 per game. They are 27th in the MLB in batting average with .234, 30th in slugging percentage with .363 and 30th in total home runs with 113.

Rounding Third and Heading Home

The Reds have the best chance to win the last wild card spot in the National League, having the easiest remaining schedule among the other two teams, the Padres and Cardinals, who are close in the race. The Padres have the hardest remaining schedule and the Cardinals, who are one game back from the wildcard spot, have the 5th hardest schedule remaining.

The Reds just lost their last six series. They need to turn it around if they want to keep their playoff spot. They are set up for the easiest entry of the three teams into the wildcard and need to use this to get on a hot streak going into the playoffs.

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