The Cincinnati Reds and the Pittsburgh Pirates meet Friday in MLB action from PNC Park. This will be the second installment in a four-game weekend series. In the Thursday opener, the Pirates eked out a one-run victory. Check back all season long for free MLB picks at Sports Chat Place.
Cincinnati Reds
The Reds played the Rays this week, winning Monday before dropping the other two games. On Thursday versus the Pirates, the Reds out-hit Pittsburgh 8-4 but ended up losing 4-3. Starting pitcher Luke Weaver managed 6.0 innings with four earned on four hits and two walks.
Starter for Friday’s game will be Graham Ashcraft. In his three starts so far Ashcraft is 2-0 with a 1.42 ERA and 17 Ks in 19.0 innings. He’s 7-6 in his career over 22 starts with a 4.35 ERA overall.
Pittsburgh Pirates
Over on the Pittsburgh side, they took care of the Rockies this week with wins 14-3, 5-3 and 14-3 again in a sweep. On Thursday Pittsburgh scored four in the first inning and hung on for the win after giving up three runs across the seventh and eighth. Roansy Contreras put up 6.2 innings in the start with five hits and two walks.
It’ll be Mitch Keller on the mound for the start Friday. In his four starts during 2023 Keller is 1-0 with a 3.80 ERA and 25 Ks in 23.2 innings. Over his career, Keller is 13-29 with a 4.92 ERA in 74 games (72 starts).
The Reds are 32-65 in their last 97 road games and 4-10 in their last 14 overall. Cincinnati is 8-21 in their last 29 versus the NL Central.
Meanwhile, the Pirates are 18-43 in the last 61 Friday games and 17-35 in their last 52 in game two of a series. The under is 4-1-1 in Pittsburgh’s last six versus the NL Central.
ANDREW’S FREE PICK
I’ll probably stay with the Reds here. We should have a good starter matchup regardless, though. Ashcraft has just three earned runs over 19.0 innings so far, and he’s coming off 6.0 clean frames with four hits and four walks in a win versus Philadelphia. On Thursday in the opener Cincinnati really just had the one bad inning but their offense was too little too late. I like the Reds to play a more complete game in this one on the way to a victory. Should be another competitive matchup.