Pittsburgh Pirates vs San Francisco Giants Free Pick

The Pirates have won six out of seven games and 10 of their past 13.

On the mound for the Giants, 34-year-old 14-year veteran Jake Peavy makes his 11th appearance of the season, but despite a sluggish 3-5 record with a 4.18 ERA in 56 innings, Peavy – who spent the first seven-plus seasons of his career in the National League before departing for the Chicago White Sox and then Boston Red Sox until his trade to the Giants in 2014 – has always pitched well against Pitsburgh, with a career 5-2 mark and solid 2.52 ERA. 458 in that span.

The Bucs are now -135 when they host the Giants. The Giants are in the midst of a grueling stretch that features 13 straight games against Central contenders followed by a three-game set at NL West-leading Los Angeles.

The Pirates lost a wild-card playoff game at home to the Giants last year but swept a three-game series at San Francisco in June.TV: 7:05 p.m. ET, Major League Baseball Network, CSN Bay Area (San Francisco), ROOT (Pittsburgh)PITCHING MATCHUP: Giants RH Jake Peavy (3-5, 4.18 ERA) vs. Pirates RH Charlie Morton (7-4, 4.36)After going winless over three starts despite allowing a total of three runs, Peavy managed to earn the victory against Washington last time out after permitting five runs over 5 2/3 innings.

Pittsburgh, while they still trail the NL Central-topping Cardinals by five games, hold a 3-and-a-half game lead in the Wild Card standings – and a seven-game lead in the Wild Card over third place San Francisco.

Sunday: LHP Francisco Liriano (8-6, 3.35) for the Pirates; TBA for the Giants.

Brandon Crawford, whose grand slam broke that game open, brings a career-high 13-game hitting streak into the opener. Nor did Thursday’s Pirates starter, 31-year-old righty Charlie Morton.

Those numbers get even stronger when Morton pitches at PNC Park, with the pitcher posting a 1.69 ERA at home against the Giants.

The San Francisco Giants come to town today for a four-game series that doesn’t yet affect much between the two teams but has implications outside of the series for both.

“That oblique is a hard one to figure out”, manager Bruce Bochy said. The Giants perform similarly when they hit one or more homers with a 43-23 record. Aoki, though, is hitting.

In head to head matchups, the over is 3-0-2 in the last 5 meetings and is 6-1-1 in the last 8 meetings in Pittsburgh.