Cincinnati Reds vs. Pittsburgh Pirates prediction and odds Fri., 8/19: Reds face Buccos without Votto

Yardbarker Quick Pick

We have a pair of righties on the mound in Pittsburgh tonight as Bryse Wilson and Graham Ashcroft go head-to-head for these two bottom-dwelling NL teams. Neither offense has shown any capability of consistently hitting RHPs, both ranking in the bottom-five over the last month. That makes our choice relatively simple: we're fading the offenses and taking under 8 runs. — Griffin Carroll, Yardbarker

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Cincinnati Reds: -1 (+110) spread, +115 moneyline, over 8 (+100)
Pittsburgh Pirates +1 (-134) spread, +104 moneyline, under 8 (-112)

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Votto ended his season in the midst of a career-worst 0-for-22 slide that dropped his batting average to .205.

"It's a big blow," Reds manager David Bell said. "Obviously we're going to miss him a ton. I have no idea how he was ... trying to play this game with a torn rotator cuff.

"I was lucky enough to talk to the doctors. They were very clear this has to get done in order to get Joey back healthy for next season. As much as we'll miss him now, that's kind of what I'm looking forward to."

The Reds at least got a bit of good news with the Wednesday victory. Left-hander Nick Lodolo held the Phillies scoreless over seven innings, and a ninth-inning RBI single from Jose Barrero gave Cincinnati a walk-off win.

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Next up to try to give an inconsistent Reds offense the chance at victory will be rookie right-hander Graham Ashcraft (5-3, 3.96 ERA), who will be facing the Pirates for the first time in his career.

Over his past four outings, Ashcraft has a 2.33 ERA over 27 innings. He took the loss against the Chicago Cubs on Saturday, when he gave up four runs (three earned) over 6 1/3 innings. It was his first defeat over his past seven starts.

The Pirates are expected to counter with right-hander Bryse Wilson (2-7, 5.93 ERA), who gave up four runs over 5 1/3 innings on Aug. 12 at San Francisco and took the loss in a 5-3 defeat. Since he returned from Triple-A Indianapolis on July 2, Wilson is 2-3 with a 3.82 ERA over seven starts.

In two previous starts against the Reds, including one this season, Wilson is 0-2 with a 2.84 ERA. He gave up just one earned run over 6 2/3 innings in a July 7 defeat to the Reds.

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After opening August with three consecutive victories, the Pirates have endured a rough time. However, they ended a six-game losing streak with an 8-2 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Thursday as Bryan Reynolds hit two home runs.

Reynolds now has four home runs over the past four games and 20 on the season.

The two on Thursday were the 2,999th and 3,000th regular-season homers in the history of Pittsburgh's PNC Park -- and they came on what would have been the 88th birthday of former Pirates great Roberto Clemente, who finished his career with exactly 3,000 hits.

"That's crazy," Reynolds said on the AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh broadcast. "That's some incredible history I get to be a part of. Just (to be) a little part of it is something special."

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