Know Your Foe #3: Hurdle, Pirates Welcome Rockies in Home Opener

Pittsburgh Pirates (4-2, 2nd in the NL Central)

2010 Record vs. Colorado: 4-3

Last Series vs. Rockies: August 5-8, 2010 (2-2 series split at PNC Park)

After taking a series from the struggling Rockies in Denver, the Pirates salvaged a split in Pittsburgh, with the game of the series coming on Saturday the 7th, in which the Bucs won on a walk-off homer by Pedro Alvarez. The Pirates were perplexed for five innings by Jorge De La Rosa before breaking through in a huge way in the sixth inning, scoring three times and eventually grabbing a 5-2 lead heading into the ninth inning. However, Joel Hanrahan allowed a game-tying three-run homer to Ian Stewart before he could even record a single out in the top half of the inning. Then in the tenth, Todd Helton somewhat miraculously smacked a two-run homer off of Sean Gallagher to give the Rockies the lead. However, Huston Street's propensity for allowing traffic caught up with him with two outs in the bottom of the tenth, as Alvarez connected on an 0-1 offering and put it in the right field seats (or possibly, into the river) to give the Pirates the victory.

Pitching-wise, the Pirates were paced by James McDonald, who won the opening game of the series by hurling six innings of scoreless, four-hit ball while striking out eight and walking just one. Meanwhile, the offense was lead by Alvarez (who went 6-for-17 with two three-run homers) and Jose Tabata (who was 7-for-17 with a couple of doubles).

Last Series Results: W 2-1 at Chicago (NL), W 2-1 at St. Louis

Clint Hurdle's Pirates have outscored their opponents 23-19 so far in 2011, and have been led on the mound by former Giant and Padre Kevin Correia, who is 2-0 with a 1.38 ERA in two starts. Their starters have been anywhere from solid (Correia and Paul Maholm) to unspectacular (everybody else), but they've managed to keep it together pretty well through two series. Offensively, the Bucs are off to a very nice start, with all-star centerfielder Andrew McCutchen leading the way (.389/.500/.833), with Neil Walker (.346/.370/.692) not far behind. Of course, these are subject to SSS (though McCutchen is a legitimate major league star). Meanwhile, Jose Tabata has continued where he left off last year and just may turn into the above-average big leaguer that everyone expected him to be while in the Yankees organization.

Thursday through Sunday: 4-game series at PNC Park

Expected Pitching Matchups

Thursday, April 7, 2011 @ 11:35 AM MT

Friday, April 8, 2011 @ 5:05 PM MT

Saturday, April 9, 2011 @ 5:05 PM MT

Sunday, April 10, 2011 @ 11:35 AM MT

Expected Lineup

Bench

Closer

Injuries