Thursday Baseball San Francisco Giants at Pittsburgh Pirates Betting Odds & Free Pick

MLB Preview: San Francisco Giants at Pittsburgh Pirates

Written By David Hess (Follow me on Twitter @DavidHess311)

When: 7:05 PM ET, Thursday, August 20, 2015
Where: PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Pa.
Televised: MLB Network

Odds: The Pirates are listed as -125 favorites with buy back on the Giants at +115. The Total has ben set at 8 (-110) 

The pitching matchup for this game has Jake Peavy squaring off against Charlie Morton.

Jake Peavey has made just 10 starts for the Giants this year and it hasn’t been all that good for him as he is 3-5 with a 4.18 ERA overall. He has pitched better of late, posting a 2-1 mark and a 3.45 ERA in his last 5 starts, but is also 1-3 with a 4.23 ERA in 5 road starts this year. Jake is 5-2 with a 2.52 ERA in 8 starts vs the Pirates in his career, but haven’t faced them since 2009.

Charlie Morton hasn’t really pitched all that well this year as he has a 4.26 ERA, but does have a 7-4 record. He has been solid at home though with a 4-1 record and a 3.25 ERA. He does have nice numbers vs the Pirates of late, going 2-1 with a 2.21 ERA in his last 5 starts vs them.

Important Stats: On the road this year the Giants have hit .267 overall and .272 vs righties, while scoring 4.77 rpg. Their pitching has not been good away from home, with a 4.30 ERA and a 1.31 WHIP. The Pirates have hit a solid .258 at home, including .256 vs righties, while putting up 4.29 rpg.

This is a huge series for these teams as they are battling for a wildcard slot. The Pirates would be in the playoffs if they started today, but the Giants have some work to do as they currently sit at 3 games behind the cubs for the final wildcard spot.  The Giants are just 2-7 the last 9 games in this series, but where I will be looking in this game is at the Over. The Over is 6-1-1 the last 8 meetings between these team in Pittsburgh, Plus the Over is 8-2 in Pittsburgh's last 10 as a home favorite and 32-15-4 in San Fran's last 51 road games. The Giants can score on the road, while the Pittsburgh offense has been hot of late and these two teams should be able to get enough runs off of very suspet pitching to put this one OVER the total of 8.  

Join Our 2015 Pro Football Super Contest. It's FREE and the winner has a shot at being the next Expert Handicapper here at SportsBetCappers.  Do you have what it takes to win it? CLICK HERE to Sign Up.

SportsBetCappers.com - Sports Picks Forums, The Best Sports Expert Sports Picks, Sports Blogs, Sports Odds, Free Picks, and much more!