The Pittsburgh Pirates returned home on Monday after losing an interleague series to the Toronto Blue Jays over the weekend. Now, Derek Shelton's group will have one of their tougher home stands of the year.
Starting on Tuesday, the Pirates will have six straight home games against the National League West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers (38-23) and the American League Central's Minnesota Twins (33-26).
The Dodgers come to Pittsburgh on the heels of taking two of three from the Colorado Rockies at home and are 5-5 in their last 10 games. The Dodgers' 38-23 record puts them four games behind the National League East's Philadelphia Phillies for the best record in the National League.
This season, the Dodgers offense has been amongst the best in the league, to no one's surprise thanks to the future Hall of Fame trio of Mookie Betts, Fredie Freeman, and the $700 million man himself, Shohei Ohtani. This season, the Dodgers are averaging 4.8 runs per game. Their pitching has been solid throughout the season as well, allowing just 3.4 runs a night.
So far this month, the Dodgers are off to a solid start with a 2-0 record, scoring eight runs while allowing just one earned run, albeit against the Colorado Rockies, the bottom dwellers of the National League West.
Last season, Los Angeles took four of seven games from the Pirates but the Pirates did defeat the Dodgers twice last April when the National League West power made their visit to the Steel City for a three-game series.