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A new week in Major League Baseball is here and the Pittsburgh Pirates will get it started by opening up a three-game set with their NL Central rival, the Cincinnati Reds, Monday night at PNC Park.
We’ve got you covered with a pick to make on the moneyline as well as a player prop that we think has a good chance to hit.
Reds vs. Pirates, 6:35 p.m. ET, ESPN+
Moneyline pick: Reds -148
The Pirates have lost eight of their last 10 games overall and projected starting pitcher Mitch Keller has been struggling this season. His ERA is hovering above six and he’s yet to go more than 5.2 innings in any start. Before his most recent start, he had given up 17 earned runs in just 19.2 innings pitched. In three of his six outings, he’s been pulled after 3.1 innings or less.
The Reds offense started out hot, but has slowed down a bit. Still, they’re capable of some pretty absurd performances, and this shapes up to be one where they can tee off on the opponent. In their one three-game series earlier this season, Cincinnati swept Pittsburgh and outscored them by a total of 22 runs over those three games.
Player Prop: Mitch Keller U4.5 strikeouts (-103)
Keller tends to get pulled from games pretty early on, and he’s liable to do that again against a good Reds offense. In three of his appearances, he’s hit more than 4.5 Ks, getting five, five and seven in different games. Still, the Reds sit in the middle of the pack when it comes to getting rung up, so I don’t expect them to get sat down quite that much today.
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