Two National League Central rivals square off on the diamond Friday, when the Cincinnati Reds (60-57, T-2nd NL Central) visit PNC Park to play the Pittsburgh Pirates (51-63, 4th NL Central) in the 1st game of a three-game series. Cincinnati lost its second straight when falling to the Miami Marlins 5-4 on Wednesday. The Reds have lost 8 of the last 9. Pittsburgh also lost its second straight when falling to the Atlanta Braves 6-5 on Wednesday. Cincinnati will play without nine pitchers as well as position players Jonathan India, Jake Fraley, Curt Casali and Will Benson. Pittsburgh will play without five pitchers as well as position players Ji-Hwan Bae, Oneil Cruz and Tucupita Marcano.
The Cincinnati Reds pitching staff must improve and do so quickly or the Reds risk falling out of postseason contention. Cincinnati is 26th in team ERA at 4.83 and also 26th in WHIP at 1.43. Cincinnati's starting rotation has 34 Quality Starts which is 23rd and the pitching staff is allowing opposing hitters to average .261 which is 25th. Ian Gibaut is leading Cincinnati in wins with eight and Hunter Greene has a team best 100 strikeouts. Cincinnati will send Andrew Abbott to the mound on Friday. This season, the left-hander is 6-3 with an ERA of 2.93 and 74 strikeouts.
At the plate, Cincinnati has a batting average of .250 which is 16th and improves to 10th in on base percentage with .327 and 14th in slugging percentage at .416. Cincinnati has scored 564 runs which is seventh best. Spencer Steer is leading Cincinnat i in both home runs with 18 and RBI was 64. Jake Fraley is second in home runs with 15 as well as in RBI with 63, but is out injured. Next in line for home runs is Jonathan India with 14 but he is also out injured and India is also third in RBI. Cincinnati has hit 200 doubles, 23 triples and 137 home runs in 117 games.