Pittsburgh Pirates vs Detroit Tigers Prediction: Defense to overpower offense

Pittsburgh and Detroit will play the second game of the series in Pittsburgh. The first game went to the Tigers (5-3). Will the Pirates be able to get revenge? Let's pick a few bets at once.

Pittsburgh noticeably improved lately

Before the series with Detroit, the Pirates played on their field against Arizona and managed to win 6-8, 2-1, 3-0. Before that Derek Shelton's team had had a wonderful trip to California, where they put up tough resistance to the San Diego Padres (3-4, 4-2, 2-4) and defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers three times in a row (6-5, 5-3, 8-4). Clearly, the Dodgers were not very motivated, but the merits of Pittsburgh should not be minimized here either. The Pirates are still only No. 3 in the National League Central Division standings and are significantly behind St. Louis and Milwaukee. But given the team's recent results, why wouldn't they put up a fight against the contenders?

Mitch Keller is the starting pitcher for Pittsburgh's second game of the series against Detroit, 2-5, and with a 5.77 ERA in 10 starts.

Detroit struck out all they could in this series so far

Much like Pittsburgh, the Tigers recently had a great showdown against one of the season leaders, beating Minnesota four times out of five – 7-5, 2-8, 4-0, 5-0, 3-2 – on the home field. But then A. J. Hinch's team could do nothing on the road against another top team, the New York Yankees, scoring only 4 runs in 3 games, 0-13, 0-3, 4-5. Detroit has big problems at the bat, which prevents the team from doing better than the current 13th place in the American League standings. It's quite possible that after scoring 5 points in the first game in Pittsburgh, the Tigers will score nothing at all in the second game.

Detroit's starting pitcher for the upcoming game is Alex Faedo, 1-2 and with a 3.09 ERA in 6 starts.

Head-to-head encounters

The score in the season series is 2-1 in favor of Detroit.

The rivals met twice in the 2022 preseason in March.

Expert Betting Tips

Detroit has been weak offensively this season, being the MLB's worst team in terms of offensive efficiency. Pittsburgh has added a lot lately, on defense as well, so they are unlikely to allow the Tigers to prove themselves on offense for the second time in a row. The Pirates themselves may have trouble at the bat, though, as Detroit's defense is one of the best in the league at the moment. The conclusion is obvious - the match is going to be low-scoring.

Prediction: Total Under.

Betting options

• Total Under (8.5) for 1.83;
• Total Under (6) for 3.50;
• Both Teams To Score Runs - No for 6.20.

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