Angels vs. Pirates Best Bets: Strikeout Props Lead Friday's SGP

The Los Angeles Angels (53-87) and the Pittsburgh Pirates (69-72) meet in an interleague series opener Friday at PNC Park. First pitch is scheduled for 6:45 p.m. ET on Apple TV.

The big news for the Pirates is that SS Konnor Griffin (finger) is set to come off the 60-day injured list Friday against the Halos. He has been sidelined since July 5 due to a torn sagittal band in his left ring finger, suffered on a diving play in Washington. He spent six weeks wearing a sling on the outer fingers of his left hand.

Griffin made a rehab assignment which saw him make stops at the team’s spring training facility in Bradenton, Fla., before playing three games with the Double-A Altoona Curve, and two games with the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians. After returning to Pittsburgh on the team’s scheduled day off Thursday, it appears his evaluation went well, and he is ready to return.

The Pirates sit five games out of the final wild-card spot in the National League with 21 games remaining in the regular season. Pittsburgh is not out of it, but it also needs to go on a heater really soon.

The Angels are dead-last in the American League, and just 23-43 on the road, while posting a minus-80 run differential. The Halos are also just 14-28 in interleague play, while the Pirates are 23-13 vs. AL teams.

Los Angeles starts RHP Ryan Johnson (3-7, 5.47 ERA, 1.42 WHIP) across 72.1 IP in 14 starts and three relief appearances. Pittsburgh counters with RHP Jared Jones (2-6, 4.83 ERA, 1.28 WHIP) in his 16 starts across 72.2 IP.

The thing with both of these offenses is that they struck out – a lot. In fact, the Pirates have 1,339 strikeouts through 141 games, or 9.5 strikeouts per game. The Angels lead the American League with 1,322 strikeouts through 140 games, or 9.44 strikeouts per game.

As such, let’s go with RYAN JOHNSON - OVER 3.5 STRIKEOUTS (-132), and we’ll also take JARED JONES 6+ STRIKEOUTS (-178), as he had seven strikeouts in his most recent home start in an interleague start against the Boston Red Sox. He is averaging 6.0 strikeouts per start in his five outings vs. AL teams this season.

In addition, taking Pirates (-196) on the moneyline is a little too expensive for my liking, as you need to risk nearly two times your potential return. There’s no money in that. However, if you take both of the player props above, plus the Pirates, while also going OVER 8.5 (-104), that four-leg SGP returns a profit of more than 8X.