Pittsburgh Pirates Gear Up For Two with JT Brubaker and Mitch Keller

The Pittsburgh Pirates game was rained out on Friday night.  The team will now have a double-header to start their new series.

It may have been a good thing that the Pittsburgh Pirates game was postponed on Friday.  The team is currently stuck in their worst stretch of the season. This was topped off on Thursday afternoon when, well you know by now.  All in all, the team likely needed a day away.

Friday’s postponement means that the Pittsburgh Pirates will play a doubleheader against the Colorado Rockies on Saturday. Of course, there is a good bit of rain in the forecast for Saturday too, but they will likely do everything they can to not postpone again.  This could be a good chance to get things back on the right track, as the Rockies only have 1 more win than the Bucs.

Game one will feature a match-up between right-handers JT Brubaker and Austin Gomber. Brubaker is coming into the game with a 4.20 ERA, 4.78 FIP, and a 1.236 WHIP through 49.1 innings this season. He’s struggled mightily in his last 2 starts, surrendering 12 earned runs in 11 innings while giving up 4 home runs. He still only walked 3 batters and has a healthy 4.25 K/BB ratio on the season. Overall though, he’s had a very solid sophomore season.

Game two will feature lefty Austin Gomber for the Rockies, and right-hander Mitch Keller for the Bucs. Keller will be entering with an extremely poor 7.41 ERA, 4.82 FIP, and a 1.805 WHIP. Keller went 5 innings in his last start with 6 K’s and just one walk, but he gave up 5 earned runs on 8 hits, including 1 home run. The young right-hander has been the definition of inconsistent all season, so it’s anyone’s guess which Mitch Keller we’ll see in game two.

The biggest thing the team can do is just getting back to playing decent baseball.  No one has lofty expectations for this team, their play recently shows why.  Still, they need to see some of their notable guys start to produce, and it starts with the two on the mound/