San Francisco Giants vs. Pittsburgh Pirates Predictions, Picks and MLB Preview – June 22, 2016

This four-game set between the San Francisco Giants and Pittsburgh Pirates has been competitive. Both teams have notched a one win each, which makes tonight’s third meeting pretty crucial. Will the Giants prevail for the second-consecutive time, or will the Bucs reclaim the advantage in the series? Read on below for everything you need to know about this National League showdown.

For more baseball, click here to check out our preview of the interleague bout between the Colorado Rockies and New York Yankees.

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San Francisco Giants vs. Pittsburgh Pirates Betting Preview

Where: PNC Park, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

When: Wednesday, June 22, 2016, 7:05 PM ET

Line: San Francisco Giants (-113) vs. Pittsburgh Pirates (+103); total: 8.0 – view all MLB lines

TV Broadcast: CSBA, RTPT

Betting on the San Francisco Giants (45-27)

Following a sorry 1-0 loss in the opener versus the Pirates, the San Francisco Giants responded with an emphatic win in the second game, 15-4. They’ll now attempt to achieve the same result with Jeff Samardzija (8-4, 3.14 ERA) handling the ball for them.

Samardzija is coming off an excellent start against the Rays last Friday. In that game, he registered nine innings of one-run ball and struck out four batters to lead the Giants to a strong 5-1 victory. Another sensational performance like this from him should most probably guarantee a win for the NL West division leaders.

Of course though, San Francisco still needs to take care of business on offense as well. Hence, expect Brandon Belt to continue lighting up the plate. He leads the team in several departments: batting average (.305), homers (10), OBP (.414) and hits (72).

Besides Belt, Joe Panik should prove to be troublesome for the Bucs, too. The 25-year-old second baseman is 14-of-44 (.318) with seven RBIs, one homer and a triple in the last 10 contests. He’s also 1-of-3 lifetime versus Pittsburgh starter, Francisco Liriano.

San Francisco is 6-4 SU in its past 10 road games. The Giants are also one of the top favorites (+375) to win the National League pennant.

Betting on the Pittsburgh Pirates (34-37)

Over on the home team’s side, the Pittsburgh Pirates’ fate will rest upon the hands of Francisco Liriano (4-7, 5.03 ERA). He’s coming off a rocky start against the Cubs last week. The veteran southpaw coughed up a total of six hits and four earned runs across 5 2/3 innings of work. The Bucs lost that game, 6-0.

Fortunately though, it’s fair to expect a bounce-back performance from Liriano as he’s pitched respectably well against the Giants. He is 4-1 with a 3.07 ERA throughout five career starts in this matchup. Liriano also owns a 2.86 ERA in six starts at home this season.

As for the offense, the Pirates, who are currently priced at +1,300 to win the NL Central division crown, can rely on either Starling Marte or Andrew McCutchen to punch in some hits and runs for them.

Marte boasts a team-high .331 batting average this year and will be heading into tonight’s game with a career triple-slash line of .340/.389/.560 versus the Giants. McCutchen, meanwhile, is a career .303 hitter in the same matchup and is 13-of-32 lifetime off San Francisco starter, Jeff Samardzija.

Pittsburgh is 4-6 SU in its previous 10 games at PNC Park.

Writer’s Prediction

Giants (-113) win, 7-5.

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