Pirates vs Twins Prediction - MLB Picks 8/18/23

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The Pittsburgh Pirates and Minnesota Twins face off on Friday in an MLB showdown at Target Field. 

Twins Young Talent Shines

No matter what happens this season, the Twins are really set up well for the future. Edouard Julien, Royce Lewis, and Matt Wallner have all had breakout years here and they are going to be keys for the future. The Twins front office has made some very questionable decisions this season, but the biggest one probably has to do with Wallner. The Twins bats were ice cold in the majors and they refused to call up Wallner from AAA where he was crushing the ball. The Twins are averaging 4.43 runs while their pitching is giving up 4.09 runs per game. The offense is ranked 17th in the league while the pitching is ranked 5th. On the mound for the Twins will be Pablo Lopez who sits with an 8-6 record and an ERA of 3.66. In his last start against the Phillies he went six innings giving up four hits and zero runs. 

Twins Betting Trends

  • The Twins have won seven of their last eight home games against teams that held a losing record.
  • The Twins have failed to cover the run line in each of their last eight games following a home loss.
  • The Twins have trailed after 7 innings in each of their last five night games at Target Field against NL Central opponents.
  • The 'Inning 1 UNDER 0.5 runs' market has hit in each of the Twins' last five home games against National League opponents.

Pirates Continue to Struggle

The Pirates have lost three of four coming into this game and the pitching has really let them down. On Wednesday the Pirates offense only scored three runs while the pitching gave up eight. The Pirates are averaging 4.17 runs while their pitching is giving up 4.93 runs per game. The offense is ranked 24th in the league while the pitching is ranked 25th. Bryan Reynolds has hit 18 home runs and driven in 59 RBIs. On the mound for the Pirates will be Andre Jackson who sits with a 0-0 record and an ERA of 5.47. 

Pirates Betting Trends

  • The Pirates have won each of their last seven games as road underdogs following a road loss.
  • The Pirates have covered the run line in each of their last eight road games following a road loss.
  • The 'Inning 1 UNDER 0.5 runs' market has hit in each of the Pirates' last three night games against American League opponents.
  • The Pirates have led after 7 innings in four of their last six games as road underdogs.

Twins vs Pirates Facts

  • The Minnesota Twins ranks 3rd in the league for walks allowed this season (330).
  • The Minnesota Twins are one of only 4 teams in the league to rank top 10 in both strikeouts and walks allowed this season.
  • The Pittsburgh Pirates ranks 5th in the league for triples this season (22).
  • The Pittsburgh Pirates ranks 25th in the league for slugging percentage this season (.387).

Shane’s Free Pick

Lopez gave up zero runs in his last start and the Pirates offense has been a big issue headingi nto this game. The Twins young budding stars are also going to have a big game against Jackson. The Twins will score six or seven runs, and the Pirates just don’t have the offense to keep this game close. Back the Twins on the run line.

The pick in this article is the opinion of the writer, not a PickDawgz site consensus.

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