Pittsburgh Pirates vs. St. Louis Cardinals
Pick: Pittsburgh Pirates +182 odds
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This is a great value spot for the Pirates. Pittsburgh is having yet another horrible season as it is a miserable 30 games under .500 including 27 games under .500 on the road. The Pirates need to be played in spots and this is one of those spots as they are catching a great number. They were handcuffed by Chris Carpenter last night in a tough one-run loss but the offense gets it going again tonight.

The Cardinals are doing nothing overly spectacular as they are 3-5 over their last eight games but they are playing excellent at home and that is driving this number for the most part. On the contrarian side, the pitching matchup favors neither team and that basically turns this game into a toss up and at the crazy odds, St. Louis cannot be played.

Jeff Suppan has been safe to play against this season as his teams are 3-6 in his nine starts including the Cardinals going 2-5 in his seven starts since coming over from Milwaukee. He has a 6.18 ERA overall and is 0-6 so nothing has been going right. He did post a quality outing in his last home start but gave it right back next time out against the Cubs and I see more of that taking place here.

Suppan had a 5.40 ERA against the Pirates in three starts last season.

The Pirates Daniel McCutchen has been recalled from Class AAA Indianapolis to start Saturday and they are hoping for better results than his first time up. He has a horrendous 8.58 ERA in six starts and one relief appearance but some time down in the Minors has done some good. He went 2-6 with a 3.62 ERA in his last nine Triple-A starts so the production is definitely there.

Pittsburgh also falls into a solid underdog situation. Play against National League favorites with a money line of -110 or higher with a starting pitcher whose ERA is between 5.20 and 5.70 on the season after two straight games where the bullpen gave up no earned runs. This situation is 33-19 (63.5 percent) over the last five seasons and it is even stronger than that based on the underdog aspect. 3* Pittsburgh Pirates

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