Cincinnati Reds at Pittsburgh Pirates 8/19/22 - MLB Picks & Predictions

In Friday night MLB action, the Cincinnati Reds will travel to PNC Park to take on the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Reds (46-70) have dropped 34 of their 54 road games and are 19.5 games off the pace in the NL Central Division race. On Wednesday, Cincinnati SP Nick Lodolo fanned eight batters in seven innings during a 1-0 home victory versus Philadelphia. 

Rookie right-hander Graham Ashcraft (5-3 3.96 ERA) will make his 16th career major league start for the Reds. Through 86 plus innings, Ashcraft has limited opponents to nine home runs and owns a respectable 1.32 WHIP.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have dropped eight of their last ten games and are currently in last place in the NL Central Division. Last night, OF Bryan Reynolds crushed two long balls and drove in four runs to power Pittsburgh to an 8-2 home victory versus Boston. 2B Kevin Newman contributed three hits and scored three runs for the Pirates, who improved to 46-72 on the year.

The Pirates will counter with twenty-four year old righty Bryse Wilson (2-7 5.93 ERA) in the series opener. In his last start, Wilson gave up four runs in five plus innings during a 5-3 road loss against San Francisco.