On Tuesday, the Pittsburgh Pirates (43-56, 5th NL Central) play the middle game of a three-game series at Petco Park in Southern California against the San Diego Padres (48-52, 4th NL West). Pittsburgh was defeated by the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday 7-5 and the Pirates lost two out of three in their interleague series with the Angels. Pittsburgh has lost seven of the last nine. San Diego was defeated by the Detroit Tigers 3-1 on Sunday but were victorious in two out of three in their interleague series with Detroit and the Padres have won four of the last six. Pittsburgh will play without four pitchers as well as position players Ji-Hwan Bae, Oneil Cruz and Ke’Bryan Hayes. San Diego will play without six pitchers as well as position player Eguy Rosario.
Pittsburgh is 22nd in team batting average and on base percentage at .236 and .312 respectively, while the Pirates are 26th in slugging percentage with .383. Pittsburgh has scored 409 runs which is 27th out of 30 teams in baseball. Jack Suwinski is the leading home run hitter for Pittsburgh with 20, while Andrew McCutcheon and Bryan Reynolds each have hit 10 homers. Suwinski is the leader in RBI with 51 and Carlos Santana is second with 48 while Reynolds is third with 46. Pittsburgh has hit 174 doubles, 17 triples and 90 home runs and 99 games.
Pittsburgh's performance on the mound has fallen off as the Pirates are now 22nd in team ERA at 4.54. Pittsburgh is 24th in both WHIP at 1.38 and batting average allowed at .253. Pittsburgh's starting rotation has had 39 Quality Starts which is 10th best in baseball. Mitch Keller is leading Pittsburgh in victories with nine and in strikeouts with 137. Rich Hill starts on the mound for Pittsburgh. This season the left hander is 7-9 with an ERA of 4.84 and 94 strikeouts.