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Posted at 12:45 PM EST. 

7:05 PM EST. The Pirates are beautiful, aren’t they? They’re like that beach bully that kicks sand in skinny guys’ face but as soon as a bigger and meaner dude comes calling, beach bully runs for the hills. The Pirates feast on weak teams and weak pitchers. Pittsburgh has won seven of nine, which gives them the feel of a strong team when they are not. They're an overrated team. Here are the seven starters the Pirates have defeated over their past seven wins: Shelby Miller, Jordan Lyles, Eddie Butler, Michael Foltynewicz, Aaron Blair, Williams Perez and Alfredo Simon. We can go on and on about the stiffs the Pirates have defeated this year. When the Pirates recently played the Cardinals they lost two of three. Against the Cubbies this year, the Pirates have lost five of six. The Bucs have feasted on Cinci (8 games), San Diego, Milwaukee, Atlanta and Colorado. The only teams they have played above .500 are St. Louis, Detroit and Chicago and they lost the series to Detroit also. The Pirates have played the 30th ranked schedule in MLB. When they’re favored over a solid starter, we are going to attack and that applies here.

Rubby De La Rosa continues to flash elite skills and with a little more consistency, he could turn out to be one of this year’s most profitable starters. De La Rosa has 45 K’s in 43 innings to go along with an elite groundball rate of 53%. His swing and miss rate is bordering on elite at 12%. De La Rosa uses a four-seam fastball (96 MPH) a slider (87 MPH), a change (88 MPH) and a wicked sinker (95 MPH). His ability to miss bats and induce groundballs is one that guarantees he’ll throw a bunch of gems this season. De La Rosa’s only flaw is his command against left-handed bats. His command against right-handers is elite so he’s a minor tweak away from being in the upper echelon of starting pitchers. De La Rosa had his last turn in the rotation skipped due to a groin injury but if he was not ready, the Snakes would skip him again. He’s ready and he’s good.

Meanwhile, Jeff Locke’s skills are soft. Locke doesn't generate a lot of swings and misses, so his 31 K’s in 45 frames is about right. Thing is, he has 23 walks to go along with that, which has led to a lousy 1.58 WHIP. A history of low marks in that category (command), shows he's been walking a fine line for years. Locke continues to get knocked around by left-handed batters. He found success during his first full season in the majors, back in 2013, but it was evident that his skills didn't match the results. A ground ball tilt is by far his strongest attribute, but it hasn't been enough to offset the lack of whiffs and the mediocre control. Locke’s 5.00/4.73 ERA/xERA split is legit but he’s not and neither is the team he plays for.  

Note: Games may be added or subtracted by 6:00 PM or thereabouts, as we monitor lines looking for value all day.

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