Following a slow start to this season, the defending World Series champion Braves ride a seven-game winning streak into Thursday night’s series opener with the Pirates at Truist Park. Lefty Max Fried shoots to make it eight in a row for the home team here against JT Brubaker for the visitors.
The Braves are favored by a huge price here; how are we playing this game with our free baseball betting pick?
Pirates-Braves MLB Betting Odds
Thursday’s baseball betting lines opened Atlanta and Fried at around -260 over Pittsburgh and Brubaker, with an over/under of eight runs. Early betting action then bumped the Braves to -265, and that total to 8.5.
Atlanta could also be found at around -130 on the run line.
Pirates-Braves MLB Betting Preview
Pittsburgh just got swept two games at home by Detroit, losing Wednesday’s series finale 3-1. Just before that, the Pirates took two of three games from Arizona, and just before that, they swept three games from the Dodgers in Los Angeles. So Pittsburgh is 6-3 over its last nine games.
At 24-30 overall, the Pirates trail San Francisco by 5.5 games in the battle for the third and final National League wild-card spot.
Atlanta, meanwhile, just swept two games at home from Oakland, winning Wednesday’s series finale 13-2. Just before that, the Braves swept four games at Colorado, and just before that, they won the last game of a series with the Diamondbacks. So Atlanta owns a seven-game winning streak at the moment.
At 30-27 overall, the Braves trail the first-place Mets by seven games in the NL East, but they also sit just a game back of the Giants in that NL wild-card scrum.
This series is the first meeting between these teams this season. Last year Atlanta took the season series from Pittsburgh four games to three.
Thursday’s Pitching Match-Up
This pitching match-up is a rematch of a game played back in May of last season, a 7-1 Atlanta victory.
Lefty Fried is 7/11 on quality starts this season and three for his last three. Last Friday, he tossed eight scoreless innings against Colorado at Coors Field, allowing just two hits in a 3-1 Braves win. And over his last three starts, he’s allowed just three runs and 13 hits through 20 innings.
Atlanta is 7-4 with Fried this season, 3-0 his last three times out.
Over two starts against Pittsburgh last season, one good and one bad, Fried allowed seven runs and 11 hits through 12 innings. The Braves split those two games.
Brubaker is just 1/11 on quality starts this year. Last Friday, he got touched for six runs – five earned – and three home runs through only four innings of an 8-6 Pirates loss to Arizona. But over his two starts previous to that, he held San Diego and the Rockies to just one run through 11 2/3 innings in a pair of Pittsburgh victories.
The Pirates are 5-6 with Brubaker this year, which is about a win worse than they should be.
In is only career start against Atlanta, that game in May of last season, Brubaker gave up seven runs and three home runs through 5 1/3 innings and took the loss.
Splits With the Sticks
Atlanta is batting .238 against right-handed pitching this season, with a .300 team OBP and a .406 team slugging percentage. The Braves have also scored at least six runs seven times over their last ten games.
Pittsburgh is slashing .227/.291/.375 against left-handed pitching. The Pirates have also scored a total of just nine runs over their last four games.
The Bullpens
The Pittsburgh bullpen owns a 4.00 ERA this season, along with a 1.31 WHIP.
The Atlanta pen owns a 3.11 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP.
- Get more details: Pittsburgh at Altlanta 6/9/21 Betting Stats
MLB Betting Trends
- The Pirates are 11-13 on the road this season and 9-9 against left-handed starters.
- The Braves are 16-14 at home but only 15-21 against right-handed starters.
Totals Report
- The Under is 27-20 in Pirates games this season.
- The Over is 31-23 in Braves games.
- The Over is 18-9 at Truist Park this season.
