Pittsburgh Pirates vs Cincinnati Reds Prediction, Odds and Picks for Today, 09/25/25

The Pittsburgh Pirates and Cincinnati Reds will play the first game on Thursday slate of MLB action, and I expect the Pirates to hold a lead through the first 5 innings of play. Braxton Ashcraft is set to start this game for the Pirates, marking his 26th appearance and 8th start of his rookie season. Pittsburgh has made sure to limit his workload, and we shouldn’t expect him to work overly deep into this game. His last outing resulted in just 3 innings despite finding success in that outing, and if you want you can limit this bet to the first 3 innings as well.

Nick Lodolo was injured during his August 4 start against the Cubs and missed 3 weeks as a result. He allowed 4 earned runs in 4.2 innings during his return to the rotation before 5 scoreless frames against the Padres. His last 2 starts have combined for 9 earned runs allowed, and I am not overly fond of backing him in this spot given current pricing. Sure, the matchup with Pittsburgh is certainly one he can find success in on paper, but I lean towards the Pirates through 5 innings of play.

Pirates vs Reds prediction: Pittsburgh Pirates F5 ML (+140) available at time of publishing. Playable at that price.

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