Pirates

Pirates Preview: Squaring Off With MVP-Front Runner Shohei Ohtani

Published

9 months ago

July 21, 2023

Shohei Ohtani, Pittsburgh Pirates, MLB offseason

The Pittsburgh Pirates (42-54)) embark on another West Coast road trip as the head to Anaheim to face the Los Angeles Angles (49-48) before heading south down to state for a three-game series with the San Diego Padres.

Right-hander Johan Oviedo will be on the mound for the Pirates, and he will need to be on his A-game as Pittsburgh Faces a near-impossible task. Oviedo will be opposite two-way sensation and American League MVP frontrunner Shohei Ohtani.

The game kicks off at 9:35 ET and will be aired on AT&T SportsNet.

Weather

Temperatures in the mid-to-low-80s and sunny skies on the West Coast for first pitch tomorrow.

The Pirates will send out RHP Johan Oviedo (3-10, 4.53 ERA)

Oviedo was brilliant in his last outing for the Pirates, holding the San Francisco Giants to a single run across seven innings, which tied a career-best. He also tied a career-mark with 10 strikeouts.

Though he’s pitched better than the record would show, Oviedo took the loss in six-straight games before a no decision against the Giants. The right-hander hasn’t earned a win since May 19.

Oviedo has never faced the Angels, though he is 1-3 with a 3.95 ERA in nine career interleague games (eight starts).

The Angels will send out RHP Shohei Ohtani (7-5, 3.50 ERA)

Ohtani currently owns a 6.9 bWAR which is 1.7 points higher than the next closest in the league (Ronald Acuña Jr. — 5.2 bWAR.

The 2021 American League MVP has never faced Pittsburgh, but he is 3-3 with a 3.08 in 10 career inter-league starts.

The right-hander has struggled a bit in July, allowing nine earned runs in 10.0 innings (8.10 ERA) during the month of July.

Angels Hitters vs. Oviedo

Eduardo Escobar: 1 for 6, one strikeout

Pirates Hitters vs. Ohtani

No current Pirate has faced Ohtani

Tidbits

On Wednesday, Jared Triolo extended his hitting streak to 12 games. Triolo becomes just the third Pirates player since 1900 to record a hitting streak of 12+ games within his first 17 career games, joining Jewel Ens in 1922 and Woody Jensen in 1931
In Wednesday’s game Pirates’ rookies combined for six of the Pirates’ nine hits in their come-from-behind win.
Since coming off the injured list, Ji-Man Choi has a .261 batting average to go along with an .873 OPS, a double, two home runs and six RBIs in eight games.