Pirates vs Astros Odds, Betting Lines & Expert Analysis

Off the first loss of his professional career, Pittsburgh Pirates ace rookie righty Paul Skenes returns to the mound on Monday night as the Bucs open a series at the Houston Astros.

Pittsburgh Pirates Moneyline -156

Pittsburgh is in a stretch where it plays opponents with a .500 winning percentage or better for the next 18 consecutive games.

Nick Gonzales

The Pirates are listing starting second baseman Gonzales as day-to-day. He was removed from Saturday’s game at Arizona with left groin discomfort.

Gonzales grounded out in the top of the sixth inning off of Diamondbacks starting pitcher Brandon Pfaadt.

While running to first base, he pulled up, grabbing his groin, and struggled to make it back to the dugout.

Nick was called up on May 9 and has stabilized the second base position.

Bryan Reynolds

Pittsburgh’s best hitter, outfielder Reynolds, was placed on the bereavement list on Friday but likely will be back Monday.

Paul Skenes on the Hill

It’s ace rookie righty Skenes on the mound here. Skenes (6-1) took his first pro loss last Tuesday against the Cardinals, allowing two runs on four hits while striking out eight over 8.1 innings.

He held St. Louis to one run on a Nolan Arenado solo homer through eight dominant innings.

Paul would come out for the ninth, making a bid for his first complete game, but Michael Siani led off the frame with a double before eventually scoring on an Alec Burleson hit.

Skenes were then pulled after 104 pitches.

Excluding his start against the Mets on July 5, when the Pirates cruised to a 14-2 win, they have scored just 10 runs in Skenes’ last six appearances.

This will be his first career outing vs. Houston.

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Houston Astros Moneyline +127

Houston remains without All-Star outfielder Kyle Tucker. Astros general manager Dana Brown said last week that he’s “optimistic” Tucker (shin) will return from the 10-day injured list before September.

He was injured way back on June 3 and has upped his on-field activities in recent days, but manager Joe Espada noted that Tucker still doesn’t have full strength in his leg.

He will need to be able to play the outfield and run the bases without discomfort before he’s ready to rejoin the big club.

Jameson Taillon

Detroit’s Jack Flaherty is another possibility. Brown said the Astros ideally would like to get players who are under control past this season, but they’re not opposed to a rental.

Astros’ Pitchers

Since May 22, the Astros pitching staff ranks second in the majors in ERA (3.42) and the Houston rotation ranks third in ERA over that span (3.43), despite having five starters currently on the IL: Luis Garcia, Cristian Javier, Lance McCullers Jr., José Urquidy and Justin Verlander.

Jake Bloss on the Hill

It’s rookie righty Bloss (0-1) making his fourth big-league start for the Astros and first career vs. Pittsburgh.

Bloss took the loss in last Tuesday’s game against the Athletics, allowing five runs on six hits and a walk while striking out five over four innings.

He began by allowing a leadoff triple before Brent Rooker took him deep to put the Astros in an early 2-0 hole.

Lawrence Butler was next to homer off him in the third, before Seth Brown and Zack Gelof went back-to-back in the fourth.

Bloss hasn’t been able to cover more than four innings in any of his three starts since getting promoted just over a month ago, and he’ll likely see his time in the majors temporarily come to an end once Verlander (neck) returns from the injured list.

Bloss has a 6.94 ERA, 1.63 WHIP and 11:3 K:BB in 11.2 innings.

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