The White Sox are in Pittsburgh to face the Pirates to start a three game series on Friday night.
Veteran Rich Hill pitched admirably in his first start for the Pirates and will face off against Lucas Giolito, who is still searching for his elite level after battling injuries last season that clearly hampered his play.
Giolito was solid in his first outing, can he keep it rolling against the Buccos on Friday night?
Here are the odds:
White Sox vs. Pirates odds, run line and total
White Sox vs. Pirates prediction and pick
The Pirates are struggling to string together hits, but boy do they have power. The team is hitting just .211 as a team, 26th in the big leagues, but are 19th in slugging percentage. Players like Oneil Cruz are showcasing some of that power at the dish, who is batting .261 with a ton of hard contact already this season.
Further, and where this team can plate runs, is by drawing walks. The team is top 10 so far at generating walks at a 10% clip, which has been the biggest isuse for Giolito, who has walked more than three batters per nine innings over his career.
On the other side, Chicago has always done damage against lefties and I expect no different against the southpaw Hill. The 43-year-old only pitched five innings and allowed two home runs in the process. The White Sox are consistently in the top 10 in slugging percentage against southpaws and are ripe for a extra base hits while Hill is on the mound.
While the Pirates bullpen is second in ERA as a unit through the young season, they are a year removed from being second to last in that same metric.
I don't trust a side on Friday night, but this game is set to be a high scoring one.
Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.