Rangers vs. Pirates prediction and odds for Wednesday, May 24 (Value on total)

The Pittsburgh Pirates and Texas Rangers finish a three game series on Wednesday afternoon at PNC Park.

The Pirates draw a favorable matchup in this one against left hander Martin Perez while the Rangers will face off against Pirates right hander Johan Oviedo as the team looks to stay in first place in the AL West.

Here are the odds and our best bet for Wednesday:

Rangers vs. Pirates odds, run line and total

Rangers vs. Pirates prediction and pick

This is setting up to be a high-scoring game with the way the Pirates hit left-handed pitching. The team is eighth in OPS against southpaws and Perez has struggled this season after a career year. He has an ERA of 4.01 with a Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP) of 4.70, meaning that he has been on the right side of some variance in the field.

The Pirates can pounce on Perez's diminishing velocity and inability to get as many strikeouts this season, about a punch out fewer per nine innings this season. Further, he is allowing more than 11 hits per nine.

However, I can't trust Oviedo to lock it down against one of the best offenses in baseball in the Rangers. Texas is top three in metrics such as slugging percentage and batting average, and Oviedo has struggled to avoid bats by allowing nine hits per nine innings and has walked more than four batters this season.

The Rangers offense is always a threat to put up a big number, and the Pirates are dangerous against lefties.

I love the over on Wednesday afternoon.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.