The Pittsburgh Pirates And The Opener Round 2

For the second time in their last four games, the Pittsburgh Pirates will turn to Montana DuRapau as an opener on Wednesday night.

Following Tuesday night’s 5-0 loss against the Colorado Rockies, the 24-21 Pittsburgh Pirates will once again turn to an opener on Wednesday night. This will be the second time in four games the Pirates turn to an opener, and, just as it was on Saturday night, Montana DuRapau will be tabbed as the opener.

DuRapau made his MLB debut 13 days ago in St. Louis. In 6 2/3 innings pitched, DuRapau has allowed 1 run on five hits, a walk, and nine strikeouts. He has flashed a wicked slider that has generated a 45.3% whiff rate with a 2,787 RPM spin rate,  and has quickly gained the trust of manager Clint Hurdle.

In his first go round as an opener, DuRapau pitched 2 scoreless innings against the Padres this past Saturday. When his night ended, Steven Brault replaced him. While Hurdle has not made anything official, odds are, it will be Nick Kingham who replaces DuRapau on Wednesday night.

Brault just threw 70+ pitches three days ago and Chris Stratton pitched 3 innings of relief on Tuesday night. This leaves Kingham as the likely option to take over DuRapau as the Pirates look for someone to pitched 3-4 innings after DuRapau opens the game.

Things have not gone well for Kingham this season. He’s pitched in 10 games, two of which were starts, and has posted a 7.84 ERA and a 4.49 FIP in 20 2/3 innings pitched. He’s allowed three home runs (1.31 HR/9), his walk rate is an alarming 10.4%, and he’s striking out just 20.8% of batters faced.

With Kingham, likely, looming and a strong Rockie lineup waiting, hopefully, DuRapau can give the Pirates more than 2 innings on Wednesday night. If not for his pitch count, DuRapau likely would have been given a shot at logging a 3rd inning of work the last time he opened the game. With a better pitch count, DuRapau should be able to give the team 3 innings.

Looking at the schedule the next few days, it appears the team will need an opener again on Saturday. The safe bet would be that DuRapau will open this game once again, with Brault following him.