PITTSBURGH PIRATES (37-70, last place in NL Central)
Last Series vs. Rockies: July 27-29, 2010 @ Coors Field (W 2-1)
Behind the spectacular defensive play of Andrew McCutchen and an impressive display of power from Garrett Jones, the Pirates rolled in to Denver and took two out of three from the at-the-time reeling Rockies. Jones was 6-for-12 in the series with three doubles and two home runs. In addition to his glove, McCutchen succeeded with the bat as well, going 4-for-8 with a couple of doubles. Neil Walker hurt the Rockies as well, as he was 5-for-13 with two longballs.
On the pitching end, Zach Duke baffled Colorado in Game 1 of the series, as he went six innings and allowed just three hits - two of which were solo home runs. He walked two and struck out four. In the second game, starter Ross Ohlendorf was knocked out of the game by a line drive off the bat of Troy Tulowitzki. However, the relief corps stepped up and kept the Rockies off of the scoreboard for the most part. Colorado finally broke through in the finale against Paul Maholm, as he allowed five runs to cross the plate in the second inning alone and eight overall.
Recent Series Results: lost 0-3 at St. Louis, lost 1-2 vs. Cincinnati
Immediately upon leaving Denver, the Pirates resumed their customary losing ways, as they were swept in St. Louis in very ugly fashion. They were outscored 21-2 in the three-game set, despite getting 23 total hits. Jose Tabata had a pretty nice series on paper, going 6-for-12. However, none of his hits went for extra bases.
In the Cincinnati series, the Pirates lost the opener 4-0, which was their fifth straight defeat. The seemingly unhittable Travis Wood kept the Pirates in check, holding them to just two hits. In Game 2, McCutchen exited early after being hit by a Mike Leake fastball which looked a lot more serious than it apparently has turned out to be. However, led by Neil Walker's 3-for-4, 4 RBI game, the Pirates evened up the series. In yesterday's rubber match, the Bucs hit three homers, but only scored four runs in all and lost by a wide margin. The good news, however, was that McCutchen was back on the field and even hit one of the three aforementioned dingers.
It is also worth noting that Jeff Clement has hit a couple of pinch-hit homers within the past week, as the Pirates try to get him back into the form that made him the third overall pick in 2005.
Thursday-Sunday: 4-game series @ PNC Park
Expected Pitching Matchups
Thursday, 5 August 2010 @ 5:05pm MT
Friday, 6 August 2010 @ 5:05pm MT
Saturday, 7 August 2010 @ 5:05pm MT
Sunday, 8 August 2010 @ 11:35am MT
More after the jump...
Expected Lineup
| Player | Pos | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS | ISO | BABIP | wOBA |
|
Andrew McCutchen |
CF | 0.286 | 0.359 | 0.435 | 0.794 | 0.149 | 0.322 | 0.354 |
| Jose Tabata |
LF | 0.297 | 0.351 | 0.391 | 0.742 | 0.094 | 0.335 | 0.332 |
| Neil Walker |
2B | 0.303 | 0.340 | 0.454 | 0.795 | 0.151 | 0.357 | 0.344 |
|
Garrett Jones |
1B | 0.264 | 0.326 | 0.426 | 0.752 | 0.162 | 0.295 | 0.330 |
| Pedro Alvarez |
3B | 0.227 | 0.304 | 0.427 | 0.730 | 0.200 | 0.299 | 0.321 |
|
Lastings Milledge |
RF | 0.275 | 0.335 | 0.384 | 0.720 | 0.109 | 0.324 | 0.317 |
|
Chris Snyder |
C | 0.224 | 0.344 | 0.410 | 0.754 | 0.185 | 0.273 | 0.329 |
| Ronny Cedeno |
SS | 0.245 | 0.286 | 0.359 | 0.646 | 0.114 | 0.306 | 0.285 |
Bench
| Player | Pos | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS | ISO | BABIP | wOBA |
| Erik Kratz |
C | 0.118 | 0.167 | 0.118 | 0.284 | 0.000 | 0.160 | 0.138 |
|
Jeff Clement |
1B |
0.205 | 0.243 | 0.386 | 0.629 | 0.182 | 0.217 | 0.264 |
| Argenis Diaz |
IF |
0.333 | 0.333 | 0.333 | 0.667 | 0.000 | 0.333 | 0.298 |
| Andy LaRoche |
3B |
0.223 | 0.290 | 0.299 | 0.589 | 0.076 | 0.250 | 0.268 |
|
Delwyn Young |
Util |
0.253 | 0.304 | 0.438 | 0.742 | 0.185 | 0.320 | 0.325 |
Closer
Injuries