The Pittsburgh Pirates will look for a series sweep and their fourth win in a row on Sunday afternoon
After losing seven games in a row on their most recent road trip, the Pittsburgh Pirates have bounced back. After taking the first two games of their weekend series at PNC Park against the San Diego Padres, the Pirates are now 5-2 in their last seven games played. Now, they are looking to finish off a sweep of the Padres.
At 1:35 on Sunday afternoon, the Pirates will do battle with the Padres. This is the 19th season of play at PNC Park. In those 19 years, the Pirates have never swept the Padres at PNC Park. On Sunday, they have the opportunity to do this for the first time.
Sunday will be a battle of left-handed pitchers. Steven Brault will make the start for the Pirates, while Joey Lucchesi takes the ball for the Padres.
On the season Brault owns a 4.40 ERA and a 4.92 FIP. In 12 games (six starts) he’s pitched 47 innings, owning a 19.1% strikeout rate and a 11.4% walk rate. However, the overall numbers do not tell the entire story on Brault.
Currently, Brault finds himself in the best stretch of his MLB career. In his last six games, four of which were starts, Brault owns a 2.05 ERA and a 3.82 FIP in 30 2/3 innings pitched. He’s walked 15 batters, struck out 22 and allowed just one home run in these outings.
In his last start Brault pitched 6 innings. The start before that, he pitched a career high 6 1/3 innings. Hopefully, this strong stretch for Brault will continue in Sunday’s start.
As for Lucchesi, he owns a 3.74 ERA and a 3.71 FIP in 14 starts (79 1/3 innings pitched) this season. He’s allowed 10 home runs to go with a 7.1% walk rate and a 24.0% strikeout rate. This will be the lefty’s second start of the season against the Pirates.
On May 17th, Lucchesi allowed 2 runs in 7 innings of work against the Pirates. Despite pitching well, he suffered the loss in the Bucco victory. Here’s to hoping Lucchesi suffers another loss against the Pirates on Sunday.