MLB Betting Tips: Detroit double-header spotlight for Skubal and Skenes

Midwest weather being what it is, none of us will have been too surprised that three games were postponed on Wednesday across Detroit and Chicago.

But that does give us a second chance to back an inspirational Tarik Skubal performance against the Pirates in my MLB Betting Tips for Thursday.

Today’s MLB Odds

Tigers -2.5 vs Pirates @ 5/4 (Game 1 at 18:10 BST)

Much of what can be said about Tarik Skubal I outlined in yesterday’s article, but the rescheduling of Wednesday’s game to form a double-header on Thursday arguably makes the Tigers even more backable.

They now face two games against a struggling Pirates team who will, if they fall behind early against the Cy Young Award winner, likely put their eggs into the Game 2 basket since they have Paul Skenes ready to go in the nightcap.

So Skubal, who is on that 12-start sequence in which he has struck out 101 and walked just five – reportedly the best K/BB ratio over a dozen starts since 1875, should have greater leeway to build up a lead.

He’s still scheduled to face off against Andrew Heaney, whose 3.33 ERA shows he has something about him, but he’s just not Tarik Skubal and the Pirates won’t want to burn their best bullpen arms ahead of Game 2 if they are chasing.

So the 5/4 on offer for the Tigers to have a few runs on their visitors at an implied probability of 44.4% looks good to me.

Tigers vs Pirates: Both Teams To Score 2 Or More - No @ 7/5 (Game 2 at 22:40 BST)

Let’s stick with the double-header at Comerica Park for our second tip, with the aforementioned Skenes set to go against a Tigers starter yet to be determined.

There’s every chance A.J. Hinch decides to turn this one into a bullpen game or calls up a AAA arm as the 27th roster member to absorb a few innings. Either way, this one might see sensibilities flipped from the opener.

While the Skubal factor means the Pirates will be focusing on game two, the Tigers will go all in behind their ace in game one and then take stock of where they stand during the break.

The Pirates, though, don’t have the power to back up Skenes in the same way the Tigers have ridden Skubal. The 23-year-old Rookie of the Year has a sensational 1.78 ERA but is 4-6 exactly because the Bucs have provided him with little-to-no run support all season.

So while it’s hard to say exactly what the Tigers’ pitching plan will be, I can well see them having enough to hold off a Pirates lineup which has not delivered under pressure in 2025.

I’d go with the Pirates under 3.5 option at 21/20, but this way I think there’s a bit more value and it adds the double-chance if Skenes is on very top form and holds the Tigers down for long enough that the Bucs’ bullpen issues don’t even come into the equation.

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