The Pirates finished July 15-10 and now head into August with a tough road ahead of them. Pittsburgh is currently 2.5 games out of a National League wild card spot, and all three teams they’ll face next are ahead of the Pirates in the wild card standings.
The Pirates open this series against the Diamondbacks, to whom they lost two of three games last weekend. The main difference between this upcoming series and the last one (aside from the location: Pittsburgh) is the pitching matchups.
Luis Ortiz will face Brandon Pfaadt in Game 1. Both pitchers played in the previous series and didn’t perform well. Ortiz struggled with control, but only allowed three runs. Pfaadt allowed five runs and got the win in his outing. The Pirates need Ortiz to control the zone, while the offense needs to jump on Pfaadt early.
Mitch Keller will face Jordan Montgomery in Game 2. Keller pitched seven innings and allowed just two runs against Arizona in the last series. The Pirates haven’t faced Montgomery, but this season he has a 6.51 ERA in 74.2 innings pitched and a 1.69 WHIP. Opponents are hitting .321 against him, so the Pirates need to find ways to get Montgomery’s back early.
In Game 3, not-so-secret weapon Paul Skenes will take the mound against Ryne Nelson. The Diamondbacks and Pirates will both get a fresh look at these two young arms going head-to-head; neither team has faced either of these pitchers. Skenes has an impressive 1.90 ERA in 80.2 innings pitched and a 0.90 WHIP, while Nelson has a 4.53 ERA in 105.1 innings pitched and a 1.36 WHIP.
The Pirates need to be able to produce runs on offense in this series because the pitchers they face aren’t very good. They have three star pitchers who have been very effective this season, but they face a very tough (and hot) lineup in Burgh.
Pittsburgh is lucky not to have a left-handed pitcher scheduled to start this series, as the Diamondbacks have one of the best offenses in the game against lefties. They learned that the hard way with Marco Gonzales last series.
After the series against the Diamondbacks, San Diego will travel to Pittsburgh for a three-game series. The Pirates will face the Padres in two different series after Arizona is eliminated.
The Pirates will likely send Bailey Falter, Marco Gonzales and either Luis Ortiz or Jake Woodford into the series. The Padres will be a tough team, as they are 9-1 in their last 10 games and occupy the second wild card spot heading into the weekend.
Between the first and second series against San Diego, the Pirates will also face the Dodgers, who currently lead the National League West by 4.5 games. This will be another tough series for the Pirates, but they should be able to count on Keller and Skenes as their pitchers in this series.
The Pirates won the series against the Dodgers earlier in the season. This season, Los Angeles has struggled against faster players, so having Skenes and Keller puts the Pirates in a good position.
Overall, this series is crucial to the Pirates’ playoff chances. They’re all tough teams, but if they can go 7-5 or better in this series, then that should be considered a big win over 12 games. A 6-6 record wouldn’t be bad either, but they need to make up some ground in the Wild Card race.
