Pittsburgh Pirates (20-11, first in the NL Central) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (25-6, first in the AL East)

St. Petersburg, Florida; Thursday, 1:10 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Pirates: Vince Velasquez (4-2, 3.06 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 32 strikeouts); Rays: Zach Eflin (3-0, 3.00 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 21 strikeouts)

FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK MLB LINE: Rays -193, Pirates +162; over/under is 8 1/2 runs

BOTTOM LINE: The Pittsburgh Pirates come into the matchup against the Tampa Bay Rays as losers of three in a row.

Tampa Bay is 25-6 overall and 16-2 in home games. Rays pitchers have a collective 2.97 ERA, which leads the AL.

Pittsburgh is 20-11 overall and 11-7 in road games. The Pirates have a 13-0 record in games when they hit at least two home runs.

The teams square off Thursday for the third time this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Wander Franco has 12 doubles and six home runs while hitting .305 for the Rays. Luke Raley is 7-for-30 with two doubles and four home runs over the last 10 games.

Jack Suwinski leads the Pirates with six home runs while slugging .575. Bryan Reynolds is 13-for-34 with eight doubles and six RBI over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Rays: 7-3, .266 batting average, 3.33 ERA, outscored opponents by 28 runs

Pirates: 6-4, .277 batting average, 3.00 ERA, outscored opponents by 16 runs

INJURIES: Rays: Pete Fairbanks: 15-Day IL (forearm), Josh Fleming: day-to-day (foot), Jeffrey Springs: 60-Day IL (elbow), Shawn Armstrong: 60-Day IL (neck), Shane Baz: 60-Day IL (elbow), Tyler Glasnow: 15-Day IL (oblique), Andrew Kittredge: 60-Day IL (elbow)

Pirates: Wil Crowe: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Ji-Man Choi: 60-Day IL (achilles), Rob Zastryzny: 15-Day IL (elbow), Chase De Jong: 15-Day IL (knee), Oneil Cruz: 60-Day IL (ankle), JT Brubaker: 60-Day IL (elbow), Jarlin Garcia: 60-Day IL (arm), Max Kranick: 60-Day IL (elbow)

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

The Associated Press