Brewers at Pirates Preview and Betting Pick

The Milwaukee Brewers and Pittsburgh Pirates are set to face off in the first game of a three-game series on Tuesday after each enjoying off days on Monday. No worries, our Brewers at Pirates preview is here with all the most important info.

The Brewers are coming off a series win over the Chicago White Sox over the weekend, which included wins on Friday behind the arm of Freddy Peralta and Saturday’s strong outing from Corbin Burnes, but Brandon Woodruff took the loss on Sunday Night Baseball.

Meanwhile, the Pirates have started their sale of the best players on their roster to teams competing for a World Series with their decision to trade second baseman and outfielder Adam Frazier to the San Diego Padres on Sunday night.

The Brewers are still looking to make additions at the trade deadline, but the Brewers haven’t yet made a major trade that could potentially cement them as a true contender with the Giants, Dodgers and Padres.

Here is a preview and pick of Tuesday’s game between the Milwaukee Brewers and Pittsburgh Pirates.

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Pitching Matchup: Tyler Anderson vs. Brett Anderson

Left-hander Tyler Anderson has started 18 games this season for the Pirates and has a 5-8 record with a 4.35 ERA. Anderson has given up 16 home runs this season, which is tied for the second-most home runs that he has given up in a season in his career.

Anderson is coming off a six-inning start against the Arizona Diamondbacks in which he gave up three earned runs. The Pirates bullpen blew up in the seventh, eighth and ninth inning in that July 20 game and the Pirates lost 11-6. Anderson has been an effective innings-eater for the Pirates this season. Anderson has gone at least five innings in each of his 18 starts this season and has given up more than three earned runs just three times.

One area where Anderson has been successful this season is in his chase rate and walk rate. In fact, Anderson’s walk rate is in the 88th percentile this season and that has a lot to do with how effective he has been at locating his fastball, cutter and changeup — the three pitches that he throws the most.

Keep your eyes on him ? https://t.co/JfE73uBtMa

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) July 26, 2021

For the Brewers, it will be 33-year-old, Brett Anderson. Brett Anderson has started 14 games this season for the Brewers and owns a 2-5 record with a 4.26 ERA in his 14 starts for the Brewers this season. Brett Anderson has gone just 57.0 innings this season but has been effective at limiting the home run ball this season — he has just eight home runs against this season. The Brewers lefty has a WHIP of 1.368, so it’s pretty important that he has been able to limit the home run against this season.

Anderson is coming off of a five-inning start on July 20 against the Royals in which he gave up a pair of earned runs on just three hits. Anderson hasn’t gone more than five innings since June 15 when he took a loss to the Reds. In fact, that was only the second time that Brett Anderson has gone more than five innings this entire season. Brett Anderson has gone less than four innings six times this season, so he hasn’t been effective at eating innings.

The biggest reason for that is because Brett Anderson is one of the worst pitchers in baseball this season across many of the advanced analytics that many pitchers measured by. Brett Anderson ranks above the 15th percentile in only max exit velocity (27), walk rate (71), chase rate (19) and curve spin (32).

Brewers at Pirates Preview

First of all, take the over in this game with both starting pitchers not being very good this season and the Pirates having one of the sport’s worst bullpens this season. If you’re looking for a money-line pick, the Brewers are the better team but only because their pitching is clearly better. The Brewers are better, but take the Pirates on Tuesday, but only because Brett Anderson isn’t a good pitcher at all.