First Five Play On The Pirates Vs. Dodgers

Dodgers vs. Pirates, 6:35 ET

I had a play yesterday that was in good shape from basically the third inning until the eighth inning of a game. I mean it happens, there are times when the game just won't go your way. This was certainly one of them. I won't recap the whole thing, one of my readers already did that in the comments of the Rangers vs. Reds article from yesterday, just know it was a bad beat. I'm shifting to a different NL Central team today though.

If I told even a casual baseball fan to pick which of these two teams had a 12-11 record, and which has a 16-7 record, most would say the Dodgers have the better record. Actually, I'd expect most of the fans to still be surprised the Pirates were over .500 at all. I am not a casual fan and I'm still a bit shocked. I don't think it will last all season, but they look great right now. They are hitting pretty well overall with a .250 team batting average, and one encouraging sign is that they aren't reliant on home runs to get them victories. Their pitching staff has been decent overall, but the brightest spot so far has been their starter for today's game, Johan Oviedo. Outside of the first game he pitched this season, he has been spectacular. Over his last three starts, he has allowed two earned runs over 19.2 innings.

The Dodgers offense is currently struggling to play consistently. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)

Fade Syndergaard In Road Starts

I assume the Dodgers will eventually turn it around. I suppose they could be terrible all season, stranger things have happened in baseball. I mentioned that the Pirates aren't really homer dependant, but the Dodgers are. They have just 121 runs this year, and over a third of them have come from a home run. A quarter of their hits have come from home runs. If Oviedo isn't allowing those this year, it will be mighty tough for the Dodgers to score. They are sending Noah Syndergaard to the hill for this game, and as I've said before, we fade him on the road and play him in Los Angeles. His only road start this year was a four-inning start and he allowed six earned runs.

The Dodgers have lost all four games that Syndergaard has started this season. I don't see much reason to back them in this game either other than name recognition alone. But, baseball is so pitching dependent that this is a good opportunity to take the Pirates. I prefer the first five innings in this one and will play the Pirates at -115.

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