Pittsburgh Pirates look to stay on winning track against Los Angeles Angels

After taking two of three from the Colorado Rockies over the weekend, winning their first series since taking two of three from Baltimore in early April, the Pittsburgh Pirates will look to continue to heat up as they host the struggling Los Angeles Angels for a three-game set.

The Angels enter this week with a 12-22 record on the season and will be without their best player, Mike Trout, who required some clean up on his meniscus and will be out of action until sometime in June.

The Angles are coming off a series loss to the Cleveland Guardians, losing two of three matchups including a 7-1 loss on Saturday and a 4-1 loss on Sunday after defeating the Guardians 6-0 in the series opener. After starting the season 9-9 in their first 18 games, the Angels have gone 3-13 over their last 16 games.

This season, the Angels have struggled both on the mound and at the plate. Their team ERA of 4.90 ranks 14th in the American League while their 139 total runs this season ranks 10th. They notably have shown some power this season with 36 home runs in 34 games, which puts them seventh in the American League as well.

Last season, the Angels got the better of the Pirates winning two of three matchups in a late July series in Anaheim. The last time the Angels came to Pittsburgh was in June of 2016, also taking two of three from the Pirates in that series.

With that, here are this week's pitching matchups for the series.