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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

W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP
2011 - Esmil Rogers 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 0.00


W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP
2011 - Paul Maholm 0-0 1 1 0 0 0 0 6.2 5 0 0 0 2 3 0.00 1.05


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

W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP
2011 - Jorge De La Rosa 1-0 1 1 0 0 0 0 5.1 3 0 0 0 1 5 0.00 .75


W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP
2011 - Ross Ohlendorf 0-0 1 1 0 0 0 0 6.0 8 4 4 1 4 3 6.00 2.00


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

W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP
2011 - Greg Reynolds 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 0.00


W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP
2011 - Charlie Morton 1-0 1 1 0 0 0 0 6.0 3 1 1 0 5 2 1.50 1.33


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

W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP
2011 - Jhoulys Chacin 1-0 1 1 0 0 0 0 7.0 5 0 0 0 2 4 0.00 1.00


W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP
2011 - James McDonald 0-0 1 1 0 0 0 0 4.2 4 2 2 0 4 4 3.86 1.71

Expected Lineup

Player Pos AVG OBP SLG wOBA wRC+
HR RBI
Jose Tabata
LF .364 .462 .409 .399 160 0 0
Neil Walker 2B .346 .370 .692 .416 172 2 8
A. McCutchen
CF .389 .500 .833 .511 239 2 4
Lyle Overbay
1B .304 .385 .522 .382 148 1 4
Pedro Alvarez
3B .231 .231 .269 .180 5 0 4
Ryan Doumit
C .267 .313 .333 .257 60 0 1
Garrett Jones RF .263 .333 .421 .338 117 1 1
Ronny Cedeno SS .250 .333 .250 .273 71 0 1

 

Bench

Player Pos AVG OBP SLG wOBA wRC+
HR RBI
Jason Jaramillo C .286 .375 .286 .338 117 0 0
Steve Pearce Util .000 .000 .000 .000 -100 0 0
Josh Rodriguez IF .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0
John Bowker OF .000 .250 .000 .000 -100 0 0
Matt Diaz OF .100 .100 .100 .098 -52 0 0

Closer

W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP
2011 - Joel Hanrahan 0-0 4 0 0 0 4 0 4.1 4 1 1 0 1 5 2.08 1.15

 

Injuries

Pittsburgh Pirates Injuries

15-Day

Player Injury Type Injury Date
Scott Olsen shoulder 03/22/2011
Chris Snyder lower-back 03/22/2011
Jose Ascanio elbow 03/22/2011
Brad Lincoln forearm 03/22/2011

60 Day DL / Out for the season

Player Injury Type Injury Date
Kevin Hart shoulder 03/18/2011