Athletics vs. Pittsburgh Pirates Prediction and Picks - Saturday, September 20, 2025
Use Code SSWC The A's are out to take another road series this Saturday as they visit the Pirates. Find out more about this matchup with our Athletics vs. Pirates prediction and picks. First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 pm ET at PNC Park, home of the Pirates.
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A's enjoying a spectacular September
The Athletics (73-81) just keeping picking up wins in this extremely impressive second half of the year. Friday's 4-3 win over the Pirates was their seventh win in the last eight, while the team has gone 10-6 in September and 32-24 overall since the All-Star Break. On Friday, the visitors recovered from a three-run first inning to come back for the win. Nick Kurtz hit his 32nd homer of the year to further strengthen his Rookie of the Year resumé while Lawrence Butler scored a three-run shot, which put the A's in the lead in the top of the fifth. Luis Severino recovered from that early setback to go five innings and limit Pittsburgh to those three runs (one earned).
Luis Morales will start for the A's on Saturday. This is Morales' eighth start of his rookie season, while he also made an appearance out of the bullpen. The righty has gone 4-1 with an ERA of 3.08, holding batters to a .203 batting average. He has struggled in September with a 5.87 ERA off three starts, after putting up a 1.19 ERA in August following his first majors call-up. Last time out, Morales pitched 5.0 innings against the Reds, giving up three runs and picking up the win.
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Pirates limping toward season end
The Pirates were unable to capitalize on a dream start Friday as their miserable season staggers towards its conclusion. Pittsburgh has now lost all of its last five games and 12 of the last 13 to go 4-12 overall in September, with only the Rockies recording fewer wins this month. Colorado is the only team in the NL with a worse season record than the Pirates, who sit at the bottom of the NL Central and will miss the postseason for the ninth consecutive season.
While the Pirates have not confirmed their Saturday starter, Bubba Chandler looks like a candidate to take the mound. The rookie would be making his third start in the majors and sixth appearance after being called up by the Pirates in August. He has gone 2-1 with a 5.66 ERA, a number which is inflated by a disastrous start against the Brewers in which he was rocked for nine earned runs. Chandler came back strongly after that dud in his last start, holding Washington to a single run in six innings while striking out a career-high seven batters.
Athletics vs. Pirates pick
Moneyline Pick for Athletics vs. Pirates
- Athletics -1.5 (5 units)
The A's are playing much better baseball right now than the skidding Bucs and they should be looking to take Saturday's game on the road and cover the runline. The visiting team has a good record on the road, going 40-39 this year so far and taking two out of three from Boston at Fenway this week, and the Pirates are certainly a far less formidable proposition than the Sox. Pittsburgh has lost its last seven games playing at home with a record of 1-6 on the runline and is 42-66 playing as the underdog in 2025. The A's are 7-1 on the runline in their last eight games. They have won five of Morales' seven pro starts since he made his debut in August.
Take the Athletics on the runline.
Over/under Pick for Athletics vs. Pirates
- Over 8.5 (5 units)
The big question here is whether the A's can cause enough damage with the bats to make up for Pittsburgh's dreadful offense, and with Chandler still trying to find his feet in the bigs, I can see a big score going up on Saturday. The rookie struggled a lot against a quality, high-contact lineup like Milwaukee's in his first MLB start and didn't get out of the third inning. The Athletics have been even better over September, batting .277 as a team for the month to rank second in MLB behind the Phillies while putting up a .815 collective OPS before Friday's series opener.
Take the over.
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