<p>Following a slow start to this season, the defending World Series champion Braves ride a seven-game winning streak into Thursday night's series opener with the Pirates at Truist Park. Lefty Max Fried shoots to make it eight in a row for the home team here against JT Brubaker for the visitors.</p>
<p>The Braves are favored by a huge price here; how are we playing this game with our <b>free baseball betting pick</b>?</p>
<h2>Pirates-Braves MLB Betting Odds </h2>
<p>Thursday's baseball betting lines opened Atlanta and Fried at around -260 over Pittsburgh and Brubaker, with an over/under of eight runs. Early betting action then bumped the Braves to -265, and that total to 8.5.</p>
<p>Atlanta could also be found at around -130 on the run line.</p>
<h2>Pirates-Braves MLB Betting Preview</h2>
<p>Pittsburgh just got swept two games at home by Detroit, losing Wednesday's series finale 3-1. Just before that, the Pirates took two of three games from Arizona, and just before that, they swept three games from the Dodgers in Los Angeles. So Pittsburgh is 6-3 over its last nine games.</p>
<p>At 24-30 overall, the Pirates trail San Francisco by 5.5 games in the battle for the third and final National League wild-card spot.</p>
<p>Atlanta, meanwhile, just swept two games at home from Oakland, winning Wednesday's series finale 13-2. Just before that, the Braves swept four games at Colorado, and just before that, they won the last game of a series with the Diamondbacks. So Atlanta owns a seven-game winning streak at the moment.</p>
<p>At 30-27 overall, the Braves trail the first-place Mets by seven games in the NL East, but they also sit just a game back of the Giants in that NL wild-card scrum.</p>
<p>This series is the first meeting between these teams this season. Last year Atlanta took the season series from Pittsburgh four games to three.</p>
<h2>Thursday's Pitching Match-Up</h2>
<p>This pitching match-up is a rematch of a game played back in May of last season, a 7-1 Atlanta victory.</p>
<p>Lefty <a class="advblue" href="https://www.sportsbettingstats.com/mlb/pitcherlog/100291&quot; title="Max Fried Pitching Game Logs">Fried</a> is 7/11 on quality starts this season and three for his last three. Last Friday, he tossed eight scoreless innings against Colorado at Coors Field, allowing just two hits in a 3-1 Braves win. And over his last three starts, he's allowed just three runs and 13 hits through 20 innings.</p>
<p>Atlanta is 7-4 with Fried this season, 3-0 his last three times out.</p>
<p>Over two starts against Pittsburgh last season, one good and one bad, Fried allowed seven runs and 11 hits through 12 innings. The Braves split those two games.</p>
<p><a class="advblue" href="https://www.sportsbettingstats.com/mlb/pitcherlog/255758&quot; title="JT Brubaker Pitching Game Stats">Brubaker</a> is just 1/11 on quality starts this year. Last Friday, he got touched for six runs - five earned - and three home runs through only four innings of an 8-6 Pirates loss to Arizona. But over his two starts previous to that, he held San Diego and the Rockies to just one run through 11 2/3 innings in a pair of Pittsburgh victories.</p>
<p>The Pirates are 5-6 with Brubaker this year, which is about a win worse than they should be.</p>
<p>In is only career start against Atlanta, that game in May of last season, Brubaker gave up seven runs and three home runs through 5 1/3 innings and took the loss.</p>
<h2>Splits With the Sticks</h2>
<p>Atlanta is batting .238 against right-handed pitching this season, with a .300 team OBP and a .406 team slugging percentage. The Braves have also scored at least six runs seven times over their last ten games.</p>
<p>Pittsburgh is slashing .227/.291/.375 against left-handed pitching. The Pirates have also scored a total of just nine runs over their last four games.</p>
<h2>The Bullpens</h2>
<p>The Pittsburgh bullpen owns a 4.00 ERA this season, along with a 1.31 WHIP.</p>
<p>The Atlanta pen owns a 3.11 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP.<br />
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<span style="font-size:14px; color:#008000;">Get more details:</span> <a class="advblue" href="https://www.sportsbettingstats.com/mlb/matchup/1598466">Pittsburgh at Altlanta 6/9/21 Betting Stats</a>
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<h2>MLB Betting Trends</h2>
<ul>
<li>The Pirates are 11-13 on the road this season and 9-9 against left-handed starters.</li>
<li>The Braves are 16-14 at home but only 15-21 against right-handed starters.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Totals Report </h2>
<ul>
<li>The Under is 27-20 in Pirates games this season.</li>
<li>The Over is 31-23 in Braves games.</li>
<li>The Over is 18-9 at Truist Park this season.</li>
</ul>