Cincinnati Reds vs Pittsburgh Pirates Prediction, Odds and Picks for Today, 05/03/26

The Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates finish a series on Sunday afternoon. The Pirates have hammered the Reds in both games so far, winning 9-1 and 17-7. On Saturday, the key to the implosion for the Reds was 2 pitchers combining for 7 straight walks. You can’t win baseball games like that. On Sunday, we have two young, promising arms on the mound in Chase Burns and Braxton Ashcraft. I expect great starts from both guys, but I am going to go with the Reds to win the game and bounce back from yesterday’s embarrassment. Give me the Reds on the Money Line.

Burns and Ashcraft are both high-K pitchers. Conveniently, both teams are in the top 5 (bottom 5?) for team strikeouts. There is going to be a lot of swing-and-miss in the early innings of this one. While I like both guys, I think Burns probably has the slight edge. Ultimately, this is coming down to the bullpens though, and which team can push across some late runs. I do think the Reds are the better lineup, and it feels like they have caught about as much bad luck so far in this series as a team can have. I look for things to even out as the Reds win the finale.

Reds vs Pirates Prediction: Reds ML (+100) available at the time of publishing. Playable to -110.