This Friday the (42-62) Pittsburgh Pirates and the (54-51) Baltimore Orioles will play game one of their three-game series. The first pitch will be thrown out at 7:05 PM EST inside Oriole Park at Camden Yards. This is the first and only time that these two teams will face off this regular season.
The Pittsburgh Pirates are coming into this one after winning their previous series against the Milwaukee Brewers. The Pirates showed up at the plate in the first two games of that series, as they even hit a walk-off home run in game two. They will need their bats to stay hot if they want to challenge the Orioles at home, though.
The Baltimore Orioles are entering this one after sweeping the Texas Rangers in their last series. Baltimore showed up on both sides of the field in all three games, as they are hitting their stride at the perfect time. They also performed great at the dish, as they scored six or more runs in each game.
This game was written/published before last night's results.
The Pittsburgh Pirates have not had the season that they were hoping for up until this point in the season, but they looked great in their last series against the Milwaukee Brewers. They won that series and will now try to do the same thing to the Orioles. In their last 10, they have only won three games, as they are looking to turn this season around. They are also still in fourth place in the NL Central. At the plate, the Pirates are scoring 3.70 runs per game and they are hitting .220 as a team. This is the third least amount of runs scored per game and the second lowest overall team batting average, as the Pirates have struggled to make contact with the ball all season. They are striking out a ton right now, as they aren't giving themselves enough chances to put runs on the scoreboard. Pittsburgh has also realized that they have a little home run power littered throughout their lineup. They are averaging 1.04 home runs per game, whi ch is the 16th highest average in the MLB. This is the quickest way for them to score, as stringing together multiple hits has been a challenge for the Pirates this season. I also expect them to stay fairly conservative once they reach base safely. They have only stolen 47 bases this season, which is the 20th least in the league. They can't risk losing any base runners, as they have been hard to come by for the Pirates this season.
In the field, the Pirates also still have some work to do. They are currently allowing 5.18 runs per game and they have the lowest overall team fielding percentage. This is also the 26th most runs allowed per game, as they have continued to make mistakes throughout the season. They are giving their opponents second and third chances to score, which has hurt them. The Pirates have also already recorded 73 fielding errors, which is the second most in the league.
According to MLB.com, the Pirates will be star ting Mitch Keller in this one. He has started this season (3-7) with a 4.37 ERA and a 1.42 WHIP. Keller looked solid in his last start, though. He pitched for 6.0 innings and only allowed one earned run, as he shut down the Phillies for the majority of the time that he was on the mound.