Three of the first four meetings between these two have gone over nine runs. Pittsburgh has never faced Chad Patrick, and he owns a 2.94 home ERA. The Pirates are also hitting .210 on the road this season and just had a three-game series against Texas at home where it was over 90 degrees for the entire weekend. It’s a bullpen day for the Pirates and their bullpen has gotten better as the season as went on, now owning a 3.99 ERA. Pittsburgh is also near the bottom of the majors in on-base percentage, runs, home runs, and slugging percentage.

It's scorching hot in Milwaukee like pretty much everywhere else but clearly the roof will not be open. The overall total is 8.5, so I think 5 is worthwhile play but I wouldn't do 4.5. Only one of our books offers 5. The Pirates have never seen Brewers rookie Chad Patrick, who has a 2.94 home ERA. Pittsburgh has the worst road OPS in the majors. Bucs rookie and pseudo-opener Braxton Ashcraft has been very good as a reliever with a 1.54 ERA and the Brewers haven't seen him. This will be his first start. Maybe we push.

The Pirates trying to patch it together with the starting pitching. The Pirates are terrible on the road (11-27) and are 24th in MLB on the RL on the road. The Brewers are 8-3 in their last 11, scoring 62 runs in that span. The kid on the mound for them has been very stout at home.