Pittsburgh at Los Angeles

The Angels are the hottest team in baseball. They have won 6 of 8, and in their last 40 games they are 29-11. They will face Zack Duke tonight, who has been the most hittable pitcher in baseball. Duke has allowed 120 hits in just 84 innings and after the league hit .302 against him last year he has gotten even worse as this year the league is hitting .351. As bad as those numbers sound the results of his starts on the road are worse. The Pirates have claimed victory in just 4 of his past 24 road starts. His last nine starts have seen teams score 56 runs and the pen isn't helping. The Pirate’s pen has allowed 18 runs in his last 4 starts. He has pitched just one game in his last 15 starts with less hits than innings pitched. The Pirates stand at just 6-19 against teams with a winning percentage of .500 or better. The Angels send Joe Saunders, who has made four starts and has not yielded more than three earned runs in any, and the Angel lineup has produced 8.25-rpg over their last four. They feature six players hitting over .300 at home on the season and over the last week this team collectively is hitting .315. The Pirates are struggling offensively as well. They have now been shutout in back-to-back games, as their scoreless streak has reached 20 innings. The shutout last night marks the 8th time this season they have been shutout, more than anyone in the majors. They have also managed 1 run on 6 occasions and only two runs on 6 others and three just 13 times. That means they have scored just three runs or less in 33 games, or about half the games they have played. This money line is way too low.