Rangers vs Pirates Prediction, Odds & Best Bet for May 22 (Pitching Advantage Leads to Lopsided Texas Win)

The Texas Rangers (29-17) and Pittsburgh Pirates (24-22) open a three-game series in one of a dozen MLB matchups slated for Monday, May 22.

Rangers vs Pirates Game Info

• Date: Monday, May 22, 2023
• Time: 6:35 p.m. ET
• Venue: PNC Park -- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Coverage: MLB Extra Innings, AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh, Bally Sports Southwest

The Rangers ride a three-game winning streak into tonight's showdown following Sunday's 13-3 drubbing over the Colorado Rockies. On the other side, the Pirates aim to avoid a third consecutive loss after falling 8-3 to the Arizona Diamondbacks yesterday afternoon.

Rangers vs Pirates Odds & Spread

• All MLB betting lines, odds and prop bets are from FanDuel Sportsbook.
• Moneyline: TEX: (-132) | PIT: (+112)
• Spread: TEX: -1.5 (+122) | PIT: +1.5 (-146)
• Total: 9 -- Over: (-110) | Under: (-110)

The Rangers enter this contest as road favorites on the moneyline and spread per FanDuel Sportsbook's odds. This 6:35 p.m. ET clash also features an over/under of 9 runs with both sides available at -110 odds.

Rangers vs Pirates Betting Trends

• Texas is 7-2 straight up (SU) in its last nine road games.
• Pittsburgh is 2-10 SU in its last 12 games against the American League.
• The total has hit the Over in seven of Texas' last eight games against the National League.
• The total has hit the Over in five of Pittsburgh's last six home games against Texas.

Rangers vs Pirates Prediction & Pick

The Rangers' starting pitcher for the day is Dane Dunning, who's off to the best start of his career. The 28-year-old right-handed hurler is 4-0 through 11 appearances (three starts), pitching to a 1.69 ERA and 0.884 WHIP while allowing just 6.3 hits per nine innings along the way.

Unfortunately, the Pirates' Luis Ortiz hasn't seen nearly as much success. After tallying a 2.23 ERA in seven starts with Triple-A Indianapolis, the Pittsburgh top prospect has a 5.63 ERA in two MLB starts, picking up the loss in both. Ortiz's last start was one to forget as he gave up four runs, four walks, and seven hits over three innings in a 4-0 loss to the Detroit Tigers.

Taking his struggles into account, I see Ortiz having more issues tonight. Texas currently paces the Majors with 6.46 runs per game and has scored at least seven runs in five of their past seven outings. In fact, they've amassed a whopping 24 in their last two games alone.

On top of that, the Pirates are just 6-12 SU as underdogs against AL clubs this season. With the momentum that the Rangers have been building up, winning won't be a problem tonight.

Final Score Prediction: Rangers: 7 | Pirates: 3

Rangers vs Pirates Best Bet

For tonight's best bet, I'm backing the Rangers scoring more than 4.5 runs at -112 odds. Again, their offense has been electric, averaging 7.7 runs over their last seven outings. Meanwhile, the Pirates' 4.41 ERA at home is tied for the 10th-worst in the MLB.

Scoring over 4.5 runs in four of their previous six trips to PNC Park, back the Rangers' offense to continue thriving.

Bet: Rangers Total Runs — Over 4.5 (-112)

Devon Platana is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Devon Platana also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username PepeSilvia0. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.