The 78-59 Los Angeles Dodgers will be at PNC Park tonight to open a 3-game set with the 61-77 Pittsburgh Pirates. This is a great opportunity for the NL West-leading Dodgers to put some space between them and the San Diego Padres, who are on their tails just 2.5 games back of them for the lead. Tonight Los Angeles will send future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw to the hill. Most people thought the southpaw’s best days were behind him, but they were all dead wrong. Kershaw is 9-2 with a 3.06 ERA, a 1.15 WHIP, and over his last 3 turns he is 3-0 with a 2.70 ERA and a WHIP of only 0.72. The Bucs are expected to send Carmen Mlodzinski to the hill. He is 3-7 with a decent ERA of 3.86 and a 1.32 WHIP. Los Angeles has won 6 of the last 7 meetings with Pittsburgh and the Pirates score the fewest runs in the league; not good with Kershaw on the hill.
TONIGHT’S PICK: LOS ANGELES DODGERS