Pirates vs. Tigers prediction and odds for Wednesday, May 17 (Trust E-Rod to get win)

The Tigers and Pirates finish a two-game set in Detroit on Wednesday afternoon with an emerging AL Cy Young candidate.

Eduardo Rodriguez has been arguably the best pitcher in the American League this season and now gets to bolster his Cy Young candidacy against a slumping offense in the Pirates.

How should we wager on this one? Let's break down E-Rod's stats and if he's worthy of backing on Wednesday.

Pirates vs. Tigers odds, run line and total

Pirates vs. Tigers prediction and pick

Rodriguez has a 1.57 ERA while walking a career low amount of batters in addition to punching out more than eight batters per nine innings. He will simply overwhelm the Pirates, who are a mess at the dish of late, dead last in the bigs in batting average over the last 15 days, hitting just .179.

The Tigers are still in a rebuild, even though the team has been competitive this season, so the hitting metrics are still leaving some to be desired with the 28th best wRC+, but the team has been hitting well of late, 13th in batting average over the last 15 days.

Detroit also gets a favorable draw on Tuesday against Rich Hill, a soft-tossing left hander that is well past his prime. At 43 years old, Hill is prone to plenty of home runs, allowing nearly two long balls per nine innings and walking almost three batters per nine.

The Tigers offense has more juice than the Pirates and a massive pitching mismatch with E-Rod on the mound. Detroit can take care of business on Wednesday afternoon.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.