With 15 teams in both the National and American Leagues, there must be at least one interleague series going every day (not counting off days). The lone one early this week features the Rangers at Pirates in Game 1 on Tuesday. Texas will lose the designated hitter and Pittsburgh comes in as the MLB betting favorite.
How to Bet Rangers at Pirates MLB Spread & Game Info
Get you a man who can do both. #CarryTheFreight | #TogetherWe pic.twitter.com/V9MwjN5CeE
— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) 6 de mayo de 2019
- When: Tuesday, 7:05 PM ET
- Where: PNC Park
- Probable pitchers (away/home): Adrian Sampson/Steven Brault
- TV: MLB Extra Innings
- Live Stream: MLB.tv
- Radio: 93.7 The Fan
- MLB Spread: Pittsburgh Pirates -145 (Total 8.5)
White Sox vs Indians MLB Odds, Preview & Pick
Season Series
Pirates lead 2-0. They won 6-4 in 11 innings in Texas on April 30, snapping an eight-game losing streak at the time. Bryan Reynolds put the Pirates ahead in the top of the 11th with his first career homer, coming off Jesse Chavez, and Starling Marte then added a two-run homer. The Pirates were scoreless until getting three-run ninth off closer Jose Leclerc that Reynolds started with a double.
In Game 2, the Bucs won 7-5 behind a three-run double from Reynolds in the fourth inning. Texas hit three homers in the loss. Danny Santana led off the seventh with his third, off Pittsburgh starter Jameson Taillon. Shin-Soo Choo pulled the Rangers within 6-5 on a two-run shot against reliever Richard Rodriguez later in the inning. His fourth homer landed just beyond the wall in right over a leaping Melky Cabrera.
Why Bet on Texas?
This will mark the club’s 1st trip to PNC Park since 2007, where the Rangers have won 4 of 6 games all-time.
The Rangers got back to .500 with Sunday’s 10-2 win over Toronto to take two of three over the weekend from the Blue Jays. Asdrubal Cabrera went 2-for-4 with a home run, four RBI and two runs scored. Cabrera smashed a three-run shot to right field in the third inning, his seventh homer of the season. It was his first dinger in more than two weeks.
Rougned Odor went 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBI. Days like Sunday have been few and far between for the Odor this year, with the multi-hit game registering as just his second this year, and his first since March 30. Odor is batting just .141/.221/.244.
Shin-Soo Choo went 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored in the win. Choo had three singles, including an RBI single in the fourth inning, and also walked in the game. The multi-hit contest was his fifth in his last nine games, raising his line to .328/.416/.555 in 31 games.
Joey Gallo has 99 homers in his first 375 career games, including 11 this year. The 2 fastest players in MLB history to reach 100 career home runs are Ryan Howard (325 G) and Ralph Kiner (376 G).
It’s Adrian Sampson (0-1, 3.58) on the mound. He faced Pittsburgh last Tuesday and was denied his first big league victory after 5 2/3 scoreless innings. The right-hander struck out five without a walk, and hit a batter, in his 13th career appearance (eighth start) since his big league debut for Seattle in 2016. The Rangers’ bullpen blew that three-run lead in the ninth. Sampson He was a fifth-round pick by the Pirates in 2012. He has not allowed a run in his last 9 2/3 innings over his last three appearances.
Team Stats
Offense- Runs: 5.91
- Hits: 8.75
- Walks: 3.97
- Strike Outs: 9.53
Defense
- Runs: 5.38
- Hits: 9.28
- Walks: 4.38
- Strike Outs: 7.84
Why Bet on Pittsburgh?
Beginning Tuesday, the Pirates are scheduled to play 13 games in 13 days and 27 games over the course of 27 days through Sunday, June 2. The Pirates have gone 6-1 against American League teams this season. They went 15-5 against American League teams in 2018, which included an 8-2 record at home and a 7-3 record on the road. Since the start of the 2013 season, the Pirates have posted the best interleague record among N.L. teams (78-48, .619) and the second-best overall record behind Boston (83-40, .675).
The Bucs have gone 7-0-1 in their last eight interleague series played at PNC Park since dropping two-of-three to Houston in 2016 (August 22-24).
The Pirates got a game over .500 (16-15) with Sunday’s 5-3 13-inning win over Oakland as the Bucs took two of three. Starling Marte hit a walk-off three-run home run. Following an RBI single by Adam Frazier that cut Oakland’s lead to 3-2 with one out in the bottom of the frame, Marte stepped to the plate against Rodney with a pair of runners on and then proceeded to walk it off. Marte is hitting just .211/.250/.411 with four home runs and 15 RBI in 21 games for the campaign as a whole but did miss time with an abdominal injury.
Frazier went 2-for-6 with an RBI single and a double in Sunday’s win. Frazier came up with a one-out RBI single off Fernando Rodney in the bottom of the 13th inning to bring the Pirates to within 3-2. Frazier is hitting a meager .257/.328/.336 with one home run and seven RBI over the course of 113 at-bats, but the infielder has now come through with multi-hit efforts in three of his last five games.
Pirates manager Clint Hurdle announced that Steven Brault will start for the Pirates on Tuesday. The Pirates are forced to scramble to fill two spots in their starting rotation due to the recent injuries to Chris Archer and Jameson Taillon. Brault will come out of the bullpen to make his first MLB start in more than a year. The lefty’s last outing was on Tuesday in Texas, where he struck out three in two scoreless innings and saw his fastball velocity tick up.
Team Stats
Offense- Runs: 3.52
- Hits: 7.94
- Walks: 2.94
- Strike Outs: 8.81
Defense
- Runs: 4.35
- Hits: 8.10
- Walks: 2.97
- Strike Outs: 8.90
Rangers vs Pirates MLB Betting Trends
- Rangers are 2-5 in Sampson’s last 7 starts
- Pirates are 7-3 in Brault’s last 10 starts
- Over is 7-2 in Rangers last 9 interleague games
- Rangers are 2-6 SU in their last 8 games against Pittsburgh
- The total has gone OVER in 5 of Texas’ last 6 games on the road
- Pirates are 2-6 SU in their last 8 games at home
- The total has gone OVER in 12 of Pittsburgh’s last 18 games against Texas
Expert Final Score Prediction for Rangers vs Pirates
Texas Rangers 5 – Pittsburgh Pirates 6
