Pirates vs. Tigers prediction and odds for Tuesday, May 16 (Why UNDER is best bet)

Two teams that are a bit of ahead of schedule in its respective rebuilds, the Pirates and the Detroit Tigers, are set to start an early week series on Tuesday night.

The Pirates will send out Luis Ortiz for his second start this season and sixth in the big leagues against the Tigers, who counter with converted reliever Michael Lorenzen. Both of these teams are in the mix in respective division races after surprisingly competitive starts. How will this measuring stick series go for each team?

Let's get to the odds and dish out a best bet for Tuesday's matchup:

Pirates vs. Tigers odds, run line and total

Pirates vs. Tigers prediction and pick

It wasn't a great first start of the season for Ortiz, allowing five runs (two earned, three unearned) across five innings while only striking out one batter against the Rockies, but that's is partially due to some poor luck on the mound. He gets to face the worst hitting team against right handed pitching in the Tigers in his second start.

Detroit is listless at the plate against righties this season, .627 OPS, and is the perfect situation for Ortiz to get rolling in the big leagues.

However, Pittsburgh's offense has been of grave concern over the past two weeks. Since the beginning of May, the Pirates have an OPS of .547, the worst in the big leagues by a wide margin. Lorenzen has been prone to some poor outings, but is starting to showcase his best stuff, allowing only two earned runs over his last two starts in which he's pitched seven innings in both.

Both teams can't be trusted at the plate, and while Ortiz had a shaky first start, I attribute some of that to poor variance. I'll go with the under in the first of this two game set.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.