Two teams who are nowehere near elite in the hitting department matchup tonight in Pittsburgh with Carson Spiers and Paul Skenes on the mound. Skenes has been excellent thus far and I expect him to largely control the First five innings for the Pirates. Spiers is a bullpen arm that can go relatively deep and has been pretty good so far this season. While I do expect some regression, I don't think the Pirates are the team that will light him up and I'm expecting 4 runs or fewer in this one.

The Pirates won seven of the last 10 over the Reds. Both teams come in with identical 34-37 records. But the Pirates have an edge with three starters that could be lethal in the small playoff series if they could just get their hitting figured out consistently and the bullpen they should be fine. Paul Skenes has won his last three starts and five of six this season, he's going to pitch at most six innings so I like the five-inning bet the best with Skenes to win.

Waiting a bit paid off as this has risen from 8 to 8.5 at a few books. Don't see it getting any higher so we will just play it now and definitely listed pitchers with rookie right-handers Carson Spiers and Paul Skenes on the mound. We all know how good Skenes is, and the Reds haven't seen him yet. Spiers is not a touted prospect like Skenes but the 26-year-old has given up just two earned over his past 15.1 innings and the Bucs haven't seen him, either. If the F5 total was 4.5 instead of 4 I might take that instead simply as I don't trust either bullpen.

Could be a high-K game for Paul Skenes here so maybe he only goes 5 2/3 or something like that. But the Pirates score for him and show up in general with him on the bump (5-1 in his starts) and while Carson Spiers has been great for the Reds, this is just his 3rd career start. Not sure he gets a second trip through lineup. He gives up a lot of contact (1 hit/IP).

Pirates rookie Paul Skenes is becoming must-see stuff like Caitlin Clark, as in six starts he has more than justified the hype (more so than Clark, but we digress). With an ERA of 2.43 and WHIP of 0.96, Skenes is already performing like an ace; ask the Cards, who managed just two hits off of him in six innings last Tuesday. The Reds, however, like their own young pitcher, Carson Spiers, who since his May recall has posted a 1.17 ERA in four long-relief stints, and gets his shot in the rotation tonight. This could be the first of many pitching duels to come featuring these two hurlers! Play Reds-Pirates "Under"