Pittsburgh Pirates Set for Doubleheader in St. Louis

Tuesday the Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals will play a doubleheader at Busch Stadium as the Bucs look to snap a season long seven-game losing streak

Things are not going well at the moment for the Pittsburgh Pirates. On Tuesday, they will look to get things pointing back in the right direction when they play a doubleheader at Busch Stadium against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Tuesday’s day-night doubleheader is due to the two teams having the fourth and final game of their season-opening series at Busch Stadium rained out. Game one is scheduled for 1:15 PM ET, while first pitch in game two is scheduled for 7:45 PM ET.

Game one will see JT Brubaker toe the rubber for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Brubaker will be looking to continue to build upon his strong 10 start stretch dating back to his third start of the season when he faces the Cardinals for the second time this season.

In these starts Brubaker appears to be turning a corner as a starting pitcher. His success has been driven by a filthy slider and a hard to hit power sinker. Brubaker has posted a 3.86 ERA, 4.13 FIP, 8.5% walk rate and a 23.5% strikeout rate during this strong 10 start stretch.

Young lefty Matthew Liberatore will start game one for the Cardinals. Liberatore has made 3 career starts, positing a 5.54 ERA and a 7.44 FIP in 13 innings pitched. His first career start came against the Pirates on May 21st, allowing 4 runs on 7 hits and a home run in 4.2 innings pitched.

In game two fans of the Pittsburgh Pirates will likely wind up frustrated. Instead of promoting pitching prospect Cody Bolton, who is pitching extremely well at Triple-A Indianapolis, to make the start, the Pirates will go with Bryse Wilson.

This will be Wilson’s 6th MLB start this season. Prior to being demoted to the minors he had pitched 28.2 innings pitched in 8 total outings, posting a 7.53 ERA, 4.29 FIP, a 10.2% walk rate, and just a 17.5% strikeout rate. Wilson has also struggled at Triple-A posting a 4.98 FIP and allowing 4 home runs in 19 innings pitched (1.89 HR/9). There is little reason to be confident in Wilson’s ability to turn in a strong start on Tuesday night.

Veteran righty Miles Mikolas is slated to start for the Red Birds in game two. Mikolas has pitched extremely well this season, positing a 2.93 ERA, 3.48 FIP, 5.1% walk rate, and a 20.3% strikeout rate this season. These results have come in 73.2 innings pitched across 12 starts.

Entering play on Tuesday the Pirates are in dire need of a win. In addition to losing a season worst seven games in a row, they are also now a season worst 11 games under .500 at 24-35. Hopefully, they can find at least one victory in St. Louis on Tuesday.