Giants vs. Pirates Prediction and Pick for Sunday, June 19 (Giants on Upset Alert in Alex Cobb's Return to Action)

The San Francisco Giants are slowly crawling back towards the top of the NL West thanks to a 7-3 run in their previous 10 games. After the Dodger stumbled last week, the Giants have a chance to pull right alongside their rivals with a strong showing this weekend in Pittsburgh. The Giants got a lucky draw this weekend with the Pirates, who entered this series 25-37 before losing the opener 2-0. 

The Giants are a far better team but have a huge liability on the mound in Alex Cobb. It’s hard to win games when your starter puts you into early holes and Cobb is making a habit of doing just that. Most of the time, the Giants don’t have the firepower to dig themselves out and have lost three of his last six games. 

Here are the odds for this game from consensus sportsbooks.

Giants vs. Pirates Odds, Run Line, and Total

Run Line

• Giants: -1.5 (-115)
• Pirates: +1.5 (-105)

Moneyline:

• Giants: -180
• Pirates: +155

Total:

• Total 8.5 (Over -110/Under -110)

Giants vs. Pirates Prediction and Pick

Cobb has been a pretty big disappointment for the Giants in his first year in San Francisco at 3-2 with a 5.73 ERA and 1.49 WHIP. He’s also working his way back from a neck strain that landed him on the 15-day IL. His peripherals, however, do suggest that Cobb can turn things around. He’s been very unlucky with a BABIP of .402 and a phenomenal SIERA of 2.67. And if I were Cobb, I would relish the chance to get back to action against an offense as weak as this one. 

The Pirates have the second-worst batting average in the league at .218 and score fewer runs than all but one other team. Pittsburgh also ranks 23rd in strikeouts and 22nd in walks. Mitch Keller will start tonight for Pitt and is on a bit of a hot streak. Despite a pretty bad 5.07 ERA and 1.49 WHIP, Keller is heading in the right direction. His ERA in June is 2.38 and he hasn’t given up more than two runs in his last five starts in a row. He needs to reign in the free passes, but overall appears to have turned a corner. 

Despite their dreadful offense, I think the Pirates have a good shot here to ruin Cobb’s comeback. He had allowed 15 runs in the three games before going on the IL and I don’t expect him to all of a sudden get his stuff together. 

Pick: Pirates +155 ML

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