Pittsburgh Pirates vs Los Angeles Dodgers 05/30/2022 MLB Preview and Prediction

The Pittsburgh Pirates and Los Angeles Dodgers open a three-game set at Dodger Stadium on Monday night.

Pittsburgh is currently 19-27 on the season and is in third place in the NL Central team standings, 10 games off the pace of division leaders Milwaukee Brewers. The Pirates dropped their previous series against the Padres 2-1 with San Diego beating Pittsburgh 4-2 in Game 3 of that series.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles is 33-14 on the season and they are the top team in the NL West team standings, three games ahead of the San Diego Padres. The Dodgers have the best record in baseball right now although they are just one-half game ahead of the AL leaders New York Yankees.

This marks the second three-game set between these two teams this season. Surprisingly, the Pirates won the first series 2-1 three weeks ago. However, the Dodgers have been on a roll since then and they have won eight out of their last 10 games played. Meanwhile, the Pirates have dropped six out of their last nine games played.

Pittsburgh Pirates

The Pirates dropped Game 3 of their latest series against the San Diego Padres after Trent Grisham drilled a two-run walk-off home run in the 10th inning of Sunday’s game. Grisham entered the game hitting just .161 and among the many struggling Pittsburgh bats. He was attempting to bunt but after going up 2-0 in the count, he drove Chris Stratton‘s pitch to the right-field corner of Petco Park for the win.

Ke’Bryan Hayes leads Pittsburgh with a batting average of .284. Hayes delivered the three-run homer that helped the Pirate win Game 2 against the Padres. Daniel Vogelbach leads Pittsburgh with six home runs while also adding 14 RBIs. Meanwhile, Ben Gamel is the Pirates’ leader in RBIs with 17 on the season while also batting at .257.

Pittsburgh will send Zach Thompson to the mound on Monday. The 28-year-old from Burleson, Texas has started in a total of 8 games this season and has posted a record of 2-4 with an ERA of 5.50 and WHIP of 1.54. Thompson has pitched in a total of 34.1 innings and has 27 strikeouts with 14 walks.

Thompson lasted just three innings in his most recent start against the Colorado Rockies. The right-hander allowed four runs on seven hits including one home run with just 3 strikeouts. The Pirates are 3-2 in his last five starts.

Los Angeles Dodgers

The Dodgers completed a four-game sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks with a 3-1 victory on Sunday. Tyler Anderson pitched effective innings while Will Smith added a solo home run as the Dodgers finished a 10-game road trip to Philadelphia, Washington, and Arizona with an 8-2 mark. Freddie Freeman and Trea Turner each added an RBI during the win.

Freeman leads the Dodgers’ with a batting average of .306 while also posting an OBP of .395, and an SLG of .483. Mookie Betts is Los Angeles’ leader in home runs with 14 while also producing a total of 32 RBIs on the season. Turner is the Dodgers’ leader in RBI with 39 while batting at .294.

Right-hander Walker Buehler will open on top of the mound for the Dodgers. Buehler is 6-1 in 9 starts with an ERA of 2.91 and a WHIP of 1.23. The 27-year-old from Lexington, Kentucky has pitched in a total of 52.2 innings and has conceded 18 runs on 51 hits with 42 strikeouts and 14 walks.

Buehler earned his sixth win of the season in his most recent start as the Dodgers defeated the Washington Nationals 9-4. Los Angeles has posted a record of 7-2 record in games that Buehler has started.

Who Wins?

The Dodgers are 96-44 in their last 140 games played against the Pirates. Los Angles is also 46-14 in their last 60 home games against Pittsburgh.

The Pirates are:

• 5-2 in their last 7 games vs. a right-handed starter.

• 18-42 in their last 60 vs. a team with a winning record.

• 16-40 in their last 56 Monday games.

• 39-98 in their last 137 road games.

• 38-96 in their last 134 games as a road underdog.

• 16-41 in their last 57 road games vs. a right-handed starter.

• 18-47 in their last 65 road games with the total set at 7.0-8.5.

• 19-53 in their last 72 road games with the total set at 8.0-9.5.

• 1-4 in their last 5 games as an underdog.

• 3-6 in their last nine games against the National League.

• 2-8 in their last 10 Game 1s of a series.

The Dodgers are:

• 79-31 in their last 110 overall.

• 43-10 in their last 53 games as a home favorite.

• 43-10 in their last 53 home games.

• 8-2 in their last 10 Monday games.

• 44-12 in their last 56 games with the total set at 8.0-9.5.

• 70-21 in their last 91 home games with the total set at 8.0-9.5.

• 13-4 in their last 17 games with the total set at 8.0 or higher.

• 45-14 in their last 59 games against a starter with a WHIP greater than 1.30.

• 44-15 in their last 59 home games versus a team with a losing record.

• 38-13 in their last 51 home games following a road trip of 7 or more days.

• 40-14 in their last 54 home games against a right-handed starter.

• 40-14 in their last 54 home games with the total set at 7.0-8.5.

• 46-17 in their last 63 vs. National League Central.

• 42-16 in their last 58 Game 1s of a series.

• 67-26 in their last 93 home games with the total set at 9.5 or lower.

• 79-31 in their last 110 games on grass.

• 77-31 in their last 108 games as a favorite.

• 53-23 in their last 76 games against a right-handed starter.

• 131-57 in their last 188 versus a team with a losing record.

• Dodgers are 52-24 in their last 76 games with the total set at 7.0-8.5.

• Dodgers are 44-21 in their last 65 games with the total set at 6.5 or lower.

Buehler faced the Pirates once last season and he dominated them in that game with only two hits and no runs allowed in seven innings pitched. Buehler is having another fine season with six wins against one loss while posting an ERA of 2.93 with 42 strikeouts and 14 walks in 52.2 innings pitched.

Thompson is making his 9th start of the season and is 2-4 with an ERA of 5.50 with 27 strikeouts and 14 walks in 34.1 innings pitched. This will be his first time facing the Dodgers and it comes at a time when Los Angeles is on a roll with only two losses in their last 10 games played while scoring six or more runs in four out of their last six games played.

Make no mistake, the Pirates beat the Dodgers in their three-game set three weeks ago. But this has been a series dominated by the Dodgers for years now. Not to mention that the Dodgers have been near-invincible against the Pirates at Dodger Stadium.

Los Angeles’ bats have been hitting .256 against right-handers this season and are also averaging 5.96 runs per nine innings against righties this year. Zach Thompson is going to find trouble early on and he’s going to find it hard to stay on the mound on Monday night. Considering how the Dodgers have been playing as of late, I expect the Los Angeles bats to torment Thompson in this game. It’s a steep price to pay but no doubt I am taking the Dodgers in this matchup.

Prediction: Los Angeles Dodgers

Pirates vs Dodgers Over/Under Prediction

The total has gone under in six out of the last nine meetings between these two teams. The under is also 3-1-1 in their last five meetings in Los Angeles.

Pittsburgh Pirates over/under trends:

• Under is 8-2-3 in the Pirates’ last 13 overall.

• Under is 8-2-3 in the Pirates’ last 13 on grass.

• Under is 4-1-1 in the Pirates’ last 6 games vs. National League West.

• Under is 8-2-1 in the Pirates’ last 11 games with the total set at 7.0-8.5.

• Under is 3-1-2 in the Pirates’ last 6 vs. a team with a winning record.

• Under is 3-0-2 in the Pirates’ last 5 games as a road underdog.

• Under is 3-0-1 in the Pirates’ last 4 Monday games.

• Under is 4-0-2 in the Pirates’ last 6 during game 1 of a series.

• Under is 3-0-2 in the Pirates’ last 5 road games.

• Under is 3-0-1 in the Pirates’ last 4 road games with the total set at 7.0-8.5.

• Under is 6-1-3 in the Pirates’ last 10 games as an underdog.

• Under is 6-1 in the Pirates’ last 7 games against a right-handed starter.

Los Angeles Dodgers’ over/under trends:

• Over is 3-0-2 in the Dodgers’ last 5 home games vs. a right-handed starter.

• Over is 5-0-1 in the Dodgers’ last 6 home games vs. a team with a losing record.

• Over is 8-1-2 in the Dodgers’ last 11 games as a home favorite.

• Over is 8-1-2 in the Dodgers’ last 11 home games.

• Over is 6-1-1 in the Dodgers’ last 8 games with the total set at 7.0-8.5.

• Over is 4-1 in the Dodgers’ last 5 games vs. a starter with a WHIP greater than 1.30.

• Over is 8-3-2 in the Dodgers’ last 13 games vs. a right-handed starter.

• Over is 18-7-1 in the Dodgers’ last 26 home games with the total set at 7.0-8.5.

• Under is 25-9-1 in the Dodgers’ last 35 during game 1 of a series.

• Under is 7-3 in the Dodgers’ last 10 Monday games.

These teams have combined to score an average of 8.3 runs per game in their last 10 games played and 8.67 runs per game in their last three head-to-head meetings.

It’s not wise to expect a team to score a lot of runs against someone like Walker Buehler. However, Buehler only has a 4.21 ERA at Dodger Stadium this season and that’s something that the Pirates can exploit on Monday night.

On the other hand, Zach Thompson owns an ERA of 5.50 this season and he has never faced the Dodgers before. Well, he’s going to find out firsthand on Monday how good the Dodgers’ bats are. I think the hosts are going to hammer Thompson and score multiple runs early on.

This is a pretty easy call to make for me. The Dodgers have won 12 in a row at home against the Pirates and seven of those games had a total of 8+ runs. I am backing the teams to hit the over in this game.

Prediction: Over 8

Place Your Bet Here