This matchup features two teams heading in opposite directions as the Pittsburgh Pirates travel to take on the Atlanta Braves in game two of a three-game series in which the Braves won in game one by a score of 8-2. Will the Braves extend their winning streak to three games or will the Pirates get the win on the road? Let’s take a deeper dive into how these teams are performing this season.

The Pittsburgh Pirates enter this game with a record of 65-76 which puts them 13.5 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers for 1^st place in the NL Central and 8.5 games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks for the final Wild Card spot in the National League. Pittsburgh has compiled a record of 4-3 in September which includes a 2-8 loss on the road against the Atlanta Braves in game one of the series on Friday. Both runs for the Pirates came in the 6^th inning when Jack Suwinski hit a two-run home run that also scored Ke’Bryan Hayes.

Atlanta enters this game with the best record in the National League with a record of 92-48 which gives them a six-game lead for the best record in the National League over the Los Angeles Dodgers and a 15-game lead over the Philadelphia Phillies for 1^st place in the NL East. 

The Braves have compiled a record of 4-3 in September and are on a two-game winning streak which includes Friday’s 8-2 win at home against the Pittsburgh Pirates in game one of the series. Four of the eight runs for the Braves came in the 3^rd inning which included Matt Olson and Marcell Ozuna scoring off a base hit from Travis d’Arnaud.

BookMaker has the Atlanta Braves listed as -235 money line favorites at home against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday evening in game two of the series. Atlanta has won eight of the last ten and two of the last three games while winning by an average margin of 3.2 runs per game over the last ten and 1.67 runs per game over the last three games in the series.

Pittsburgh will send Johan Oviedo to the mound while Atlanta will send Dylan Dodd to the mound for game two of the series on Saturday. Oviedo is 8-14 this season with a 4.27 ERA while recording 136 strikeouts while Dodd is 2-1 on the year with an ERA of 7.40 and has recorded 12 strikeouts in his rookie season.

Johan Oviedo is 2-1 in his last three starts this season while allowing a total of four runs and recording 12 strikeouts in those matchups with his last start coming on the road against the St. Louis Cardinals in which Oviedo allowed three runs and recorded two strikeouts in a loss.

In his last three starts this season, Dylan Dodd is 1-0 with two no-decisions while allowing a total of 12 runs and recording six strikeouts in those contests with his last start coming on the road against the Detroit Tigers in which Dodd allowed five runs and struck out two in a no-decision.

Atlanta has been the better team this season and the dominant team in the series, however, Oviedo has been the better pitcher in this matchup over his last three starts as Oviedo is allowing an average of 1.33 runs and recording 4 strikeouts per game while Dodd is allowing an average of 3 runs per game and recording 2 strikes per game in his last three starts. As a result, I am taking the run line for the Pittsburgh Pirates at +1.5 on BookMaker for this matchup on Saturday evening.