Overview
The Pittsburgh Pirates are in Washington today for the second game of their three game series with the Nationals. The Nationals took the first game on another dominating performance from Stephan Strasburg who is now 13-0 on the season.
Head to Head Trends
Pirates are 3-9 in the last 12 meetings.
Pirates are 16-36 in the last 52 meetings in Washington.
Washington Nationals (-125)
The Washington Nationals are 1st in the National League East 19 games over .500 and 6 games clear of the 2nd place New York Mets. I really like this Nationals team I think they’re probably the most well rounded team in all of baseball right now. The Nationals have a solid offense averaging 4.69 runs per game and they have one of the best pitching staffs in the league allowing just 3.49 runs per game.
On the hill for the Nationals today is Tanner Roark who is 8-5 with a 3.01 ERA on the season. Being on a staff with Strasburg and Scherzer, Roark gets kind of overlooked a lot of the time but he has some pretty good stuff. Roark has a 3 to 1 strikeout to walk ratio and he’s also just under a strikeout per inning and he’s only allowed 7 homeruns in 116 innings so far this season.
Washington Nationals Trends
Nationals are 14-4 in their last 18 home games.
Nationals are 7-1 in Roarks last 8 starts.
Pittsburgh Pirates (+115)
The Pittsburgh Pirates are 3rd in the National League Central 2 games over .500 and 8.5 games out of 1st place. The Pirates were hot early in the season especially with the bats but their offensive numbers have been on a fairly steady decline ever since.
Starting for the Pirates in this one is Gerrit Cole who is 5-4 with a 2.77 ERA in 12 starts this season. Cole was having a pretty good season before going on the DL back in June. This will be Cole’s first start in over a month so it’s kind of hard to know what to expect but I wouldn’t think they’re going to let him go too deep in this one.
Pittsburgh Pirates Trends
Pirates are 2-6 in Coles last 8 starts vs. a team with a winning record.
Pirates are 5-12 in their last 17 road games vs. a right-handed starter.
Conclusion
I’m going with the Washington Nationals Over the Pirates again today. I think the Nationals are probably the best team in the National League right now so I obviously think they’re the better team overall and I also like a fade of Cole in his first game back off the DL.
Free Pick: Washington Nationals -125
