Pittsburgh at San Diego

The Pittsburgh Pirates have an overall record of 44-56, but taking a deeper dive into their season is quite revealing. The Pirates surprised everyone with a 20-9 start to the season, and that was good for the top spot in the NL Central. They have since gone a woeful 24-47, and have gone from first to worst in the NL Central. The Pirates through their opening 29 games were outscoring their opponents by 1.60 runs per contest, but since then they have lost their last 71 games by an average of 1.66 runs per contest. That is a reversal of -3.26 runs per game and not a true reflection of the line for this game. San Diego lost the opening game of this series last night. The Pirates have dropped five-straight games after a win. The Padres have battled through an injury-plagued season, and are five games under .500, but are 10-7 in their last 17. I like San Diego in this one.