Los Angeles Angels vs Pittsburgh Pirates Prediction: Expect a solid performance from the home side

On Saturday, Major League Baseball action will take place at Angel Stadium, featuring a matchup between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Los Angeles Angels. This will be the first game of a three-game series that will take place over the course of the weekend. The last game that Pittsburgh played was against the Guardians, and they ended up losing two of three games, giving them a record of 1-5 over their last six matches. When it comes to the Angels, they were successful enough in their most recent series to sweep the Yankees.

The Los Angeles Angels are playing pretty well right now and have won four of their last five games. The Los Angeles Angels are, however, still hovering around.500 (49–48), but there are some positive offensive signs these days. Mickey Moniak is hitting.429 over the last 15 days, and Shohei Ohtani has 12 hits and 10 runs during that time. Speaking of Ohtani, he’ll be starting for the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday. Across his 18 starts this year, Ohtani is 7-5 with a 3.50 ERA and 139 strikeouts in 105.1 innings. Over his last 10.0 innings (two losses), Ohtani has stumbled a bit, with nine earned runs on 12 hits and seven walks.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have a record of 42-54 so far this season and have lost eight of their last ten games. As a result, they are currently positioned in the cellar of the National League Central. Jared Triolo is one of the few players currently batting well for the team. On Wednesday, Triolo had two hits, two runs batted in, and two RBI, and he is hitting.333 over the course of the last week. Johan Oviedo will take the mound to begin Saturday's game as the starting pitcher. Oviedo has made 19 starts so far this season and has a record of 3-10 with a 4.53 earned run average and 97 strikeouts in 107.1 innings pitched. Oviedo's previous start against the Giants was a no-decision despite the fact that he pitched 7.0 innings, allowed one earned run on one hit, and walked three batters.

I will confidently back the Los Angeles Angels in this opener. It is easy to be pessimistic in light of Ohtani's poor performance in his previous two starts (nine earned runs in 10.0 innings). Having said that, he should have a good matchup against the offence in Pittsburgh. In three of their most recent five games, the Pirates were limited to one run or less, while in each of their most recent four games, they allowed their opponent to score five runs or more. In the first game of this series, Los Angeles should have a lot of chances to be successful on both sides of the ball.