Baseball | Monday, May 22, 2023 8:53 AM (Revised at: Monday, May 22, 2023 8:54 AM)

Pittsburgh Pirates vs Texas Rangers Best Bet: Rangers in Pittsburgh for 3

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US Sports Expert

Pittsburgh Pirates vs Texas Rangers Best Bet: Monday, May 22nd

The #1 ranked Texas Rangers offense will be in Pittsburgh for a 3-game set that begins on Monday night, and our resident baseball expert Ej Garr has his eyes on a team total for the affair. The Pirates are struggling to regain the momentum from the beginning of the campaign as they have fallen to 24 – 22 just two games above .500, and the Rangers offense could have a prolific evening in the Steel City on Monday.

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Pittsburgh Pirates vs Texas Rangers Preview

May 22, 23:35 (UK time)

The Texas Rangers will be in the Steel City to play the Pirates for the next three days, and that could spell more trouble for a struggling Pirates team that has lost 15 of their last 19 games. Since improving to 20 – 9 as April came to a close, May has been an absolute disaster for the Pirates, and the decline suddenly came out of nowhere.

With four wins over the last 19 outings, Pittsburgh is on the verge of throwing away everything they accomplished early in the campaign, and this 3-game set with Texas could leave them under /500 by the time the Rangers leave town. At 24 – 22, the number one offense in all of baseball is not expected to struggle in the least over the next three days, and they’ll be favourites for each of the next three days.

Luis Ortiz is listed as the probable starting pitcher for Pittsburgh, and the sample size that he has provided leaves room for more questions than answers. Ortiz only made four starts a year ago and his two starts this year came against Colorado and Detroit who are not exactly offensive powerhouses, to say the least.

The Pirates have not given Ortiz a lick of run support through his first two starts of the campaign, as the Pirates have scored a total of 1 run for him. In his last start, Ortiz waled four Tigers while allowing 7 hits, and after 81 pitches he was pulled from the game after the 3rd inning come to a close.

Dane Dunning is listed as the probable starting pitcher for Texas on Monday, and his stats have been incredible this year. Still yet to give up a single home run, Dunning has not allowed more than two earned runs through any of his first 10 outings of the campaign. Keeping the ball in the ballpark is huge for any starting pitcher in the bigs, although Dunning now has three starts to go with 7 relief appearances for the Rangers.

From the bullpen to the starting rotation. Dunning had made 54 starts the last two years for Texas although his results have left much room for improvement. Now back in the rotation, Dunning has an offense behind him that any pitcher would love to have, and that points me to the Texas team total on Monday night.