Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Cleveland Guardians Prediction: Can Quinn Priester Show Out in His Debut?

Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Cleveland Guardians Prediction: Can Quinn Priester Show Out in His Debut?

The Pirates and Guardians meet for a three-game series from PNC Park in Pittsburgh. The Guardians and Pirates both started the second half of their seasons with sweeps, but both were on the wrong end of them. The Guardians got swept by the Rangers, while the Pirates got swept at home by the Giants. Now, the Pirates send out MLB debutant Quinn Priester for his first start in the show to try and get their first win since the all-star break.

Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Cleveland Guardians Date, Time and Where to Watch

• Date: July 17, 2023
• Time: 7:05 pm ET
• Where to Watch: MLBTV

Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Cleveland Guardians Prediction

Two Pirates will actually make their debut tonight - pitcher Quinn Priester and outfielder Endy Rodriguez. Priester is considered to be one of the Pirates' top pitching prospects, and fans are excited for him to finally be in the show. However, he still has some work to do, and I'm not sure how well he'll do against the Guardians tonight. He had some good starts in AAA, but he was also largely inconsistent and would get blown up by the better AAA teams. Overall, across 18 starts at AAA this season, he had a 4.31 ERA and had a 1.35 WHIP. Left-handed batters had a .253 batting average against Priester, and the Guardians are loaded with lefties.

The Guardians are 9th in the MLB with a .256 average against right-handed pitchers this season, which is much better than their numbers against lefties, largely because they have a lefty-dominant lineup. Kwan, Ramirez (switch), Naylor, Bell (switch), Gimenez, Brennan, and Naylor all bat lefty, meaning seven of their nine hitters in the lineup are left-handed or switch-hitters. Considering Priester has struggled a bit against lefties in AAA, a lineup full of major league lefties may cause him some trouble tonight. The Guardians also strike out at the lowest rate in the entire MLB against right-handed pitching, so getting outs may not be easy for Preister and at-bats may get extended, increasing the chances he makes a mistake and misses his spot or throws a cement mixer.

On the other side, it's a bullpen game for the Guardians. Xzavion Curry will get the start and probably go around 2-3 innings before the rest of the bullpen backs him up. Lucky for the Guardians, they have a pretty damn good bullpen. The Cleveland bullpen ranks second-lowest in ERA in the MLB at 3.4. The bullpen has a collective 1.19 WHIP on the season and has been the strong point of this Guardians team in 2023, meaning a bullpen game is not horrible news for Guardians fans.

After a great start to the season, the Pirates have not looked great over the last month, and they now look to a debuting pitcher to try and get their first win since the all-star break. On the other side, one of the best bullpens in the league will hold down a bullpen game for the Guardians, who also got swept in their first series since the all-star break, but have a much better outlook on the season, considering they are 2.5 games out of first place in the AL Central. The price is low on the Guardians here, likely because it's a bullpen game and Preister has a lot of hype, but this is a spot I expect the Guardians to come out of with a solid win. I think they beat Preister around a bit with talented lefty bats and win 7-4.

Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Cleveland Guardians Pick

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