The set-up: The Mets had won three straight before dropping the final two games of their four-game set against Milwaukee this week. They host Pittsburgh for a three-game weekend series with Pirates starting tonight, after taking two of three against the Pirates last weekend at Pittsburgh. Both teams sit six games below .500 entering this series (Pirates are 24-30 and the Mets 23-29). The Mets may be in second place in the NL East but they are 10 games behind the Nats, while even though the Pirates are in last in the NL Central, they are just five games out of first.

The pitching matchup: Gerrit Cole (2-5 & 3.65 ERA) gets the nod for Pittsburgh and Matt Harvey (4-3 & 4.95 ERA) for New York. Cole has struggled in his last two starts, giving up five runs on 10 hits over 4 2/3 innings in a loss at Atlanta on May 22 and was then tagged for four runs on 10 hits in five innings Saturday against the Mets. Prior to that, he had put together eight straight quality starts, although the Pirates were only 4-4 in that stretch. He's faced the Mets four times in his career, going 1-2 with a 4.84 ERA (team is 2-2). Harvey ended a string of five straight outings without a quality start when he held the Pirates to one run over six innings to earn his second straight last Sunday. He's starting to show progress, allowing six ERs over his last three starts (3.31 ERA) after giving up 17 in his previous three outings (10.43 ERA). Harvey is 1-1 with a 4.30 ERA in four career starts against Pittsburgh (Mets are 1-3).

The pick: Harvey seems to be finding himself and for the most part, Cole has pitched well in 2017. Neither team has shown much of an offenisve punch (Mets are batting .244 as a team to rank 20th and the Pirates .236 to rank 25th), so I'll make the Under a 10* play