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The Pittsburgh Pirates continue to struggle against the worst team in baseball following a 4-0 loss against the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday night
Baseball continues to be a weird, unpredictable spot. That has been on display in the past week for the Pittsburgh Pirates. After dropping two of three at Great American Ballpark last week against a Reds team that is off to one of the worst starts in MLB history, the Pirates rebounded by taking two of three from the formidable Los Angeles Dodgers.
Thursday night the Pirates started another series against the Reds and suffered another loss. Following a 4-0 loss the Pirates are now 13-18 on the season, still sitting in third place in the NL Central.
Another strong start for JT Brubaker
JT Brubaker started for the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday night and turned in a strong start. Brubaker battled through some control issues and not having his best stuff to limit the Reds to 2 runs in 5 innings pitched.
Brubaker allowed just 4 hits, walked a pair and surrendered a solo home run. He also struck out 3 batters while generating 8 swings-and-misses. While the Pirates lost on Thursday nigh it was not due to Brubaker’s outing.
In his last 5 starts Brubaker has posted a 3.91 ERA in 23 innings pitched. He has walked 9 batters, struck out 26 and allowed just 3 home runs. It appears that Brubaker could be on the brink of turning a corner as a starting pitcher.
Cam Alldred makes his MLB debut
After being promoted to the Pirates on Wednesday lefty Cam Alldred made his MLB debut Thursday night. It was a well earned promotion for Alldred who was pitching extremely well at the Triple-A level.
Alldred started his MLB career by firing a 1-2-3 6th inning with a strikeout. After allowing a hit to start the 7th inning Alldred was lifted for Heath Hembree who danced around some rain drops to get out of the inning unscathed.
Alldred looked confident on the mound, never looking overwhelmed. He looked like a pitcher who belongs in the major leagues. Giving Alldred an extended look at the majors is something the Pirates should look to do over the course of the season as he could pitch his way into a long-term bullpen role.
Duane Underwood Jr. returns from the injured list
Righty Duane Underwood Jr. was reinstated off the injured list prior to the start of Thursday’s game. Underwood Jr. had not pitched since opening day due to injury and in his return his stuff looked as good as ever.
While Underwood Jr. allowed 2 runs on 4 hits in 2 innings pitched, his stuff looked as good as ever. He generated a game high 9 swings-and-misses while striking out 4 batters. He also threw the four hardest pitches in the game ranging from 96.9 to 97.3 MPH.
Getting Underwood Jr. should be a big boost for the Pirate bullpen. There were few pitchers the staff raved about more in spring training than Underwood Jr. His stuff continued to look improved on Thursday night.
Pirate offense struggles
The Cincinnati Reds have one of the worst pitching staffs in baseball history. Entering play on Thursday they had a staff ERA of 6.65. The ERA for their starting rotation has been even worse at 8.19.
Despite this, the Cincinnati pitching staff has contained the Pirate offense in their four games played this season. That continued on Thursday night as the Red pitching staff shut the Pirates out, allowing just 4 hits and walking 4.
Ben Gamel bat leadoff once again having 2 of the 4 Pirate hits. The other hits were by Mike Pérez and an infield hit by Ke’Bryan Hayes. None of the Pirate hits went for extra bases, and they were 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position.
Obviously you can not win if you do not score, but when you struggle to score against a historically bad pitching staff it is even worse. That has been a problem for the Pirates every time they have played the Reds this season. This weekend they need to solve the Cincinnati pitching staff.
Game two of the series is scheduled for 6:35 PM ET on Friday night. The always perplexing Mitch Keller (6.11 ERA, 4.44 FIP) is slated to start for the Pirates, while Tyler Mahle (6.46 ERA, 3.55 FIP) is scheduled to start for the Reds.