Live Stream Details for Pirates vs Guardians - Saturday, July 18, 2026

-110O/U: 8.5
(-110/-110)-110

Mason Montgomery will “start” for Pittsburgh Pirates in today’s game but will serve in the role of an opener and may not last more than a couple innings.
Explain: Openers have become a common strategy where a relief pitcher is used for the first (and maybe second) inning. This can suppress early run scoring as relievers are generally of a higher quality than non-ace starters.
Jake Mangum – Over/Under 1.5 Total Bases (+120/-155)
Jake Mangum’s average exit velocity has dropped off this season; his 87.4-mph figure last season has fallen to 84.2-mph.
Explain: Hitting the ball hard increases the chances of either a home run or the ball landing in fair territory for a hit before a fielder can get to it.
Pittsburgh Pirates batters collectively grade out 4th- in baseball for power this year when judging by their 93-mph exit velocity on flyballs.
Explain: Most home runs are flyballs, and the harder those flyballs are hit, the more often they turn into home runs. This is a strong indicator of power.

Logan Allen – Over/Under 4.5 Strikeouts (-135/+105)
The Pittsburgh Pirates have 7 bats in the projected batting order that will have the handedness advantage over Logan Allen in today’s game, which is especially precarious given his large platoon split.
Explain: Right-handed pitchers perform worse against left-handed hitters (and visa-versa). If several hitters hold this advantage against the pitcher, it can have a huge impact on whether he will perform well or struggle on any given day.
Austin Hedges – Over/Under 0.5 Total Bases (-125/-105)
The leading projection system (THE BAT X) estimates Austin Hedges’s true offensive ability to be a .269, providing some evidence that he has had some very good luck this year given the .064 discrepancy between that mark and his actual .333 wOBA.
Explain: Players that are overperforming should be expected to play worse going forward, which can create value on prop Unders if the lines are too heavily weighing the lucky, to-date overperformance.
Rhys Hoskins – Over/Under 0.5 Total Bases (-130/+100)
Rhys Hoskins pulls a lot of his flyballs (41.7% — 99th percentile) and is a great match for the park considering he’ll be hitting them towards the league’s 3rd-shallowest LF fences today.
Explain: This player’s skill set matches up particularly well with the park he’s in today, which may lead to better-than-usual performance.

Cleveland Guardians – Over/Under 1.5 1st Five Innings (F5) Team Total (-150/+120)
The Cleveland Guardians have hit the 1st Five Innings (F5) Team Total Under in 12 of their last 20 games (+4.10 Units / 17% ROI)
Pittsburgh Pirates – Over/Under 1.5 1st Five Innings (F5) Team Total (-145/+115)
The Pittsburgh Pirates have hit the 1st Five Innings (F5) Team Total Over in 12 of their last 17 games (+6.80 Units / 35% ROI)
Jared Triolo – Over/Under 0.5 Runs (+180/-235)
Jared Triolo has hit the Runs Over in 9 of his last 15 away games (+7.90 Units / 53% ROI)

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