Coming off a sweep of the Yankees, the Angels have their record back over .500. They are 27-22 at home, while the Pirates are just 19-28 on the road. Overall, the Pirates have lost eight of their last 10 games. The Angels have a significant starting pitching advantage with Shohei Ohtani facing off against Johan Oviedo, who has a 4.75 ERA and a 1.56 WHIP on the road. Plenty of juice here, but I’ll pay it.

The Angels have won four of five to remain in the Wild Card chase, and Friday they give the ball to Shohei Ohtani. He's coming off two rough starts but should fare better against a weak Pirates lineup. Since May 1, the Pirates own the fifth-highest strikeout rate against right-handed pitching. And before erupting for seven runs Wednesday versus Cleveland, Pittsburgh had scored 21 runs over its previous nine games. Pirates starter Johan Oviedo has an extremely high walk rate (23 walks in 47.1 road innings); that could hurt against this patient Angels' lineup.