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Pittsburgh Pirates: Previewing Three-Game Interleague Clash vs Tigers
Tuesday night at Comerica Park in Detroit the Pittsburgh Pirates will kick off a three-game interleave series against the Tigers
Yes, the Pittsburgh Pirates will likely finish the 2021 season with a sub-.500 record. Yes, the Pittsburgh Pirates will take their lumps in 2021. That said, this team is also better than the team many expected when they were predicting the Pirates to los 100+ games this season.
After winning two of their last three series played, the Pittsburgh Pirates will enter their three-game series in Detroit owning a 7-9 record. In these three series the Pirates captured series victories over the Chicago Cubs and at the time first place Milwaukee Brewers, the series the Pirates did not win saw them split a four-game series against World Series contender San Diego.
Next up for the Pittsburgh Pirates is their first inter-league series of the season. Tuesday night the Pirates will start a three-game series at Comerica Park in Detroit against the Tigers who enter the series owning a record of 7-10.
Now, let’s dive into previewing this three-game series starting with game one on Tuesday evening.
Game One
Date: Tuesday, April 20, 2021
Time: 6:40 PM EST
Pitching Matchup: Tyler Anderson (4.02 ERA, 4.57 FIP) vs Michael Fulmer (3.00 ERA, 4.60 FIP)
The Pittsburgh Pirates and Detroit Tigers will kick their series off on Tuesday night. Lefty Tyler Anderson will look to continue his early season success for the Pirates, while righty Michael Fulmer will be looking to do the same for the Tigers.
Through his first three starts this season Anderson has struck out 14 batters and walked just 4 in 15.1 innings of work. The big bugaboo for Anderson thus far has been the home run ball, allowing 3 thus far to give him a HR/9 of 1.72.
Fulmer has pitched four times thus far this season, but just one of those four outings was a start. While he has posted a strong 3.00 ERA, he is due to regress. He is allowing a 35.5% hard hit rate and 88.3 MPH exit velocity, both of which are worse than league average. He has allowed 3 home runs in 12 innings pitched (2.25 HR/9), and his batting average on balls in play of .143 is nearly 150 points below the league average of .300. The Pirates will be hoping for Fulmer’s regression to begin on Tuesday night.
So far this season Anderson has been Pittsburgh’s second best starting pitcher. Quietly, Anderson has pitched really well limiting opponents to an 86.2 MPH exit velocity and a 40.8% ground ball rate. On paper, the Pittsburgh Pirates have the pitching advantage for game one.
Game Two
Date: Wednesday, April 21, 2021
Time: 6:40 PM EST
Pitching Matchup: Mitch Keller (8.74 ERA, 5.40 FIP) vs Spencer Turnbull (2021 debut)
The make-or-break 2021 season of Mitch Keller‘s will continue in game two of this series on Wednesday night. Coming off a woeful start against the San Diego Padres the righty will be looking to bounce back and he needs to.
Keller has allowed 11 earned runs on a pair of home runs, 16 hits and he’s walked 8 batters in just 11.1 innings of work. Through three starts inconsistency has been the story for Keller. He struggled in his first start, looked brilliant in his second and then got shelled in his third start. Maybe he will continue to pitch well every other start and turn in a strong start on Wednesday night?
In all seriousness, Keller needs to put a foot forward in this start. Even if Keller struggles it would be promising to see him pound the strike zone and avoid walks. Lack of control has become one of Keller’s biggest issues and the Pittsburgh Pirates, as well as Keller, want to see improvement in his control.
For the Tigers, righty Spencer Turnbull will be making his 2021 season debut. Turnbull will be coming off the COVID-19 list to make his season debut on Wednesday night. In 11 starts last season Turnbull posted a career-best 3.97 ERA to go with a 3.49 FIP, 12.0% walk rate and a 21.1% strikeout rate in 56.2 innings of work.
In his MLB career Turnbull has found more success against right-handed hitters than he has left-handed hitters. RHHs have hit for a .235/.323/.375 slash line off of Turnbull in his MLB career, while LHHs have hit for a .276/.355/.403 slash line. Due to this, don’t be surprised to see Derek Shelton go with a lefty heavy lineup on Wednesday night.
Game Three
Date: Thursday, April 22, 2021
Time: 1:10 PM EST
Pitching Matchup: JT Brubaker (1.76 ERA, 3.56 FIP) vs José Ureña (5.52 ERA, 3.92 FIP)
As is the case in game one, on paper, the Pittsburgh Pirates appear to have an advantage in the pitching matchup for the series finale on Thursday afternoon. This advantage, however, appears to be greater than the advantage in game one.
Through his first three starts this season Brubaker appears to be emerging as a long-term building block in the Pirate starting rotation. In 15.1 innings pitched Brubaker has walked just 7.6% of batters faced, struck out 27.3% and has allowed just a single home run. This has led to him posting his strong 1.76 ERA. His whiff rate and strikeout rate rank in the 64th percentile of baseball, while his chase rate is in the 71st percentile.
Ureña is in his first season with the Tigers. The former Opening Day starter of the Miami Marlins has struggled in his first three starts with Detroit, posting a 5.52 ERA. While his strikeout rate is a healthy 25.4%, he has walked an alarming 16.4% of batters faced.
The 29-year-old righty especially struggles against LHHs. This season LHHs are slashing .387/.472/.484 off of Ureña. In his career, LHHs have hit for a healthy .276/.346/.470 slash line off of him. Thursday afternoon could be a big day for the likes of Adam Frazier, Bryan Reynolds, Colin Moran and Gregory Polanco.
What to do with the designated hitter?
One major decision that Shelton will face this series is what will the Pittsburgh Pirates do with the designated hitter? This is the first time in the 2021 season that the Pirates will have the DH at their disposal. What will they do with it?
It seems like a safe bet that Polanco will get at least one start at DH. To be honest, the best lineup the Pittsburgh Pirates can construct in this series likely sees Polanco, or Phillip Evans at DH with the other in right field and Erik González at third base.
It would not be a surprise to see Moran get a start at DH, either. He has started 15 of the team’s first 16 games at first base, giving him a start at DH would be a good way to get him a day down in the field while keeping his red hot bat in the lineup. The same goes for Bryan Reynolds who has started all 16 games this season. If either of these two players get a start at DH, look for Evans to take their place in the field.
Next. Bullpen Shines in Series Victory vs Milwaukee. dark
Speaking of Evans, after a red hot start to the season he has hit a bit of a rough patch. He is just 1 for his last 24, so a start at DH to allow him to just focus on hitting could do him well. In fact, a total and complete day down would likely serve Evans well.