Everything on paper tells you the San Francisco Giants are better than the Pittsburgh Pirates. They have the better record. Their list of great players is much longer. Despite that, they’ve lost all four games to the Pirates on the season.
The Giants are on a brutal stretch of baseball. They’ve dropped like a rock in McCovey Cove over the last month, going from Wild Card hopefuls to trade deadline sellers. Losing four games to Pittsburgh in the previous week all but adds to the pain. That includes Monday’s walk-off loss.
Now they’ll need ace pitcher Logan Webb to stop the bleeding and resuscitate their hopes. Losing five straight to the Pirates would be a defeating feeling.
The San Francisco Giants are -158 moneyline favorites on the DraftKings Sportsbook. The over/under is set at 7.5 runs. Let’s dig into a preview, prediction, and best bet for this Pirates-Giants game.
Pirates at Giants prediction, preview
Few pitchers are better to turn to than Logan Webb if you need a win. In his five years as a full-time starter, Webb has pitched to a 2.93 FIP. He’s an elite ground ball pitcher and has dialed up the strikeouts this year, retiring 9.9 batters per nine innings via strikeout. But his best skill is eating innings. Webb leads the National League in innings pitched for the third straight season, an incredible feat in the modern era.
Pittsburgh starter Mike Burrows doesn’t have the same bona fides, but has performed well for a rookie. His 3.68 expected ERA is fueled by solid contact and strikeout rates. The changeup, in particular, has been a major asset. It’s a good formula for the 25-year-old to stick in this league. Against a Giants offense that has struggled more often than not, that’ll be good enough.
Both are strong starters. But these bullpens are overtaxed, and running out of good innings. Whatever innings the starters don’t cover could be a disaster for both squads. And if the starters give up anything of significance, this is an easy over.
