Sunday Baseball Betting Odds – Giants vs Pirates

Can one of baseball’s best pitchers get back on track? We’ll find in Sunday’s baseball betting odds, when Tim Lincecum and the San Francisco Giants travel to PNC Park to take on the Pittsburgh Pirates.

That’s right, the mighty Tim Lincecum, winner of the 2009 NL Cy Young Award has been struggling of late. Despite his 5-2 record, there’s no doubt that hitters seem like they may have finally figured out the diminutive righty.

Through his first seven starts, Lincecum was phenomenal in 2010, starting off with a 5-0 record and 1.76 ERA.

San Francisco Giants (28-24 SU, 24-28 R/L, 21-27-4 O/U) at

Pittsburgh Pirates (22-31 SU, 27-26 R/L, 23-27-3 O/U)

Sunday, June 5: 1:35 p.m.

San Francisco: (Tim Lincecum-R)

Pittsburgh: (Ross Ohlendorf-R)

However since then he’s been a disaster, giving up 14 earned runs in his last three starts, all of them Giants losses.

The biggest reason for Lincecum’s struggles might be this: He has walked five batters in each of those three starts. He’ll need to get his control back to win on Sunday.

As for the Giants offense, just like their pitcher, they’re struggling mightily. On the season, San Francisco averages just 4.13 runs per game, which ranks 24th in baseball, and they don’t have a regular hitter batting over .300.

Their best bat has likely been that of Juan Uribe, who leads this team in both home runs (7) and RBI (29). Not exactly numbers that will win you a lot of games.

The pitcher with the task of going against Lincecum and this Giants offense is Ross Ohlendorf. Looking at Ohlendorf’s stats, there’s really no nice way to put this, he’s been bad. Very bad, with an 0-3 record in six starts. Unfortunately for Pirates fans, Pittsburgh really doesn’t have many other options other than to keep running him out there every fifth day.

Offensively, things truly aren’t much better in Pittsburgh than they are in San Francisco. These Pirates traded away several of their top performers over the last couple years and are now stuck with a combination of veterans who are over the hill, and youngsters not quite ready to play. One of those youngsters- Andrew McCutchen- has been just about the only bright spot in this lineup.

He’s hitting .310 and is a terror on the bases. Heading into the weekend, he leads this team in hits (61), runs (30) and stolen bases (13). Not bad for a player who won’t be 24 until October.

Despite McCutchen’s strong play, the Pirates simply don’t have enough offense to keep up with San Francisco, the biggest reason why the Giants should be your Sunday afternoon MLB bet.

Yes Lincecum has struggled, but the soon to be26-year-old will get everything figured out, he’s too good not to. And when he does, it seems likely the Pirates would be the logical team to do it against. Pittsburgh simply doesn’t have the kind of hitters that will make Lincecum pay, even if he does make a mistake.

Expect the Giants to tee off on Ohlendorf, and for Lincecum to cruise to a win in this one. The final score won’t be close, so make San Francisco your run line bet.

Aaron’s Pick: Giants Run Line