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Pittsburgh Pirates Set to Host Cleveland Indians in Three-Game Series
Entering the weekend on a 10 game losing streak, the Pittsburgh Pirates will welcome the Cleveland Indians to PNC Park for a three-game Interleague series this weekend
When it rains it pours. To say it is pouring on the Pittsburgh Pirates right now would not even begin to accurately describe what is happening. Right now, it feels as if the Pittsburgh Pirates are stuck in a monsoon.
The Pittsburgh Pirates kicked off this week by getting swept in Washington D.C. in a three-game series against the Washington Nationals. As the Pirates continue on a brutal stretch of schedule between now and the end of July, yes, July, they welcome the Cleveland Indians to PNC Park.
This weekend the Pirates and Indians will play a three-game Interleague series on the North Shore. While the Pirates enter the series with the second-worst record in the National League at 23-44, the Indians enter the series owning a 38-28 record. Sitting 10 games over .500, the Indians are in second place in the American League Central and sit just 1.0 games out of the second AL Wild Card spot.
With a strong Indians team coming to town there is no light at the end of the tunnel for the Pittsburgh Pirates. That said, let’s dive into previewing this weekend’s series at PNC Park.
When it comes to the starting pitching… the Pittsburgh Pirate appear to be out-gunned
In Friday night’s game one the Indians will send righty J.C. Mejía to the mound. Mejía made his MLB debut earlier this season, having made 6 appearances and 3 starts thus far. Mejía owns a 4.26 ERA, but a strong 2.29 FIP and 26.5% strikeout rate. He has not allowed a home run yet, either.
Opposing Mejía on Friday night will be righty Chad Kuhl. Kuhl has struggled to the tune of a 6.52 ERA, 6.51 FIP, 15.1% walk rate and a 1.55 HR/9 in just 29 innings pitched this season. These 29 innings of work have come across 7 starts, coming out to Kuhl averaging just 4.1 innings per start this season. In 3 starts since coming off the injured list, Kuhl has allowed 10 earned runs on 14 hits, home run, 5 walks and just 9 strikeouts in 13.1 innings pitched.
Saturday afternoon the pitching matchup once again appears to favor Cleveland heavily. Cal Quantrill is scheduled to toe the rubber for the Indians, while the Pittsburgh Pirates plan to send Wil Crowe to the mound.
Quantrill has already pitched in 21 games this season, but just 3 of them have been starts. Overall, the righty has been very good for the Indians posting a 3.11 ERA, 3.77 FIP, 7.4% walk rate, 19.8% strikeout rate and a home run rate of 0.72 HR/9 in 37.2 innings pitched.
As for Crowe, while he is coming off of his best start with the Pittsburgh Pirates, he still leaves a lot to be desired. In 8 starts this season Crowe has pitched 35.1 innings, posting a 6.62 ERA and 5.34 FIP. Crowe has walked 10.1% of batters faced as a starter, struck out 21.5% and he’s allowed 7 home runs (1.78 HR/9). Opposing batters also own a 22.6% line drive rate and 30.2% hard hit rate off of Crowe this season when he starts. If Crowe is going to find success at the Major League level, odds are, it will be as a reliever.
That brings us to Sunday afternoon’s matchup which is the line pitching matchup that may favor the Pirates. Struggling lefty Sam Hentges is scheduled to start for the Indians. Hentges owns a 7.86 ERA, 5.06 FIP, 11.5% walk rate and a 1.71 HR/9 in 26.1 innings pitched this season. These 26.1 innings pitched have come across 10 games, 4 of which were starts.
As for the Pirates, righty JT Brubaker is scheduled to start on Sunday afternoon. Brubaker is having a breakout season for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Through 12 starts this season he owns a 3.88 ERA, 4.24 FIP, 5.4% walk rate and a 22.7% strikeout rate in 65 innings pitched. He’s only poor stats this season are his 1.38 HR/9, which is more mediocre than poor, and 5.4 innings per start this season. That said, multiple times this season, including his most recent start against the Nationals, Derek Shelton has pulled Brubaker for no apparent reason while he was pitching while. Hopefully, he will be given a long leash on Sunday afternoon if he is pitching well.
Can the Pirate offense get going?
So far this season the Pittsburgh Pirates have had one of the worst offenses in baseball. In all reality, this should not come as a surprise. The Pirate lineup is one that is not deep and lacks length, and that goes without mentioning Ke’Bryan Hayes and Colin Moran both missing significant time this season due to injury, as well as the season long struggles of Gregory Polanco and Kevin Newman.
The Pirates have scored a National League worst 227 runs thus far this season. They are also also in the NL in on-base percentage (.297) and slugging percentage (.351), putting the Bucs last in the NL in team OPS.
Oh, but wait, there’s more! The Pittsburgh Pirates are also dead last in the NL in home runs hit with just 47. This is 13 home runs less than the Miami Marlins, who sit 14th out of 15 NL teams in home runs hit with 60.
When everyone is healthy the Pirates can have a strong 1-5 with Adam Frazier, Hayes, Bryan Reynolds, Moran and Jacob Stallings. The problem is, due to injury, they have not had this top 5 in the lineup often enough this season.
Will the Pittsburgh Pirates get a needed bat back this weekend?
While he has managed to avoid a stint on the injured list, first baseman Colin Moran did not make a single start for the Pittsburgh Pirates as they were being swept in Washington. This is optimistic news for the Pirates as Moran is a key cog in their lineup and missed most of May with a quad issue.
In 141 plate appearances this season Moran is hitting for a .291/.355/.449 slash line to go with 4 home runs and a 123 wRC+. Moran has walked in 8.5% of his trips to the plate, while collecting extra base hits at a 9.4% clip.
This continues to build upon the breakout season Moran had in 2020. Since the start of last season Moran is hitting for a .266/.337/.462 slash line to go with a 117 wRC+, .197 isolated slugging and an extra base hit rate of 9.4%.
Next. Roansy Contreras Dominating at Double-A. dark
Simply put, Moran is one of the best hitters in the Pirate lineup. Any lineup missing one of their best hitters, who is also their clean up, could face some struggles. For a lineup like the Pirates that lacks depth and length, missing that bat can be almost crippling. Hopefully, the Pirates will get Moran back in the lineup this weekend.