Pirates

Pirates Daily: Can Bucs Keep Aaron Judge From Catching Roger Maris?

Published

2 years ago

September 20, 2022

Tuesday, Sept. 20, the Pittsburgh Pirates (55-92) face the American East-leading New York Yankees (88-58) at Yankee Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

Aaron Judge finds himself on the brink of history. On Sunday against the Brewers in Milwaukee, Judge blasted his 58th and 59th home runs of the season. That leaves him two away from tying Roger Maris’ 61 homers in 1961, which is both the Yankees’ and American League single-season record.

Can the Pirates’ less-than-ideal pitching staff hold Judge off for two games?

The Pirates are coming off of a rough four-game series against the New York Mets in which they got swept. The Pirates are 4-6 in their last 10 games.

The game will be aired on AT&T Sportsnet PIT and can be heard on 93.7 The Fan

Weather

It is looking like perfect baseball weather in New York. The temperature will be around 74 degrees at first pitch, with a northwest wind blowing at 9 mph.

Starters

The Pirates have yet to name a starter, but it’s likely rookie Luis Ortiz will fill the role after being recalled on Sunday when JT Brubaker went on the injured list. Ortiz pitched five shutout innings against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday in his major league debut.

Starting for the Yankees will be left-hander Nestor Cortes (10-4, 2.70 ERA).

Cortes has had a good string of starts over his last seven games. Cortes has pitched 38.1 innings and has a 3.29 ERA in that span.

Cortes primarily throws his four-seam fastball (43.7%), cutter (30.9%), and slider (18.3 %). He will occasionally throw a changeup (4.1%), sinker (3.8%), and curveball (0.1%). Cortes’ four-seam averages around 92 mph.

Betting Odds

There are no betting lines as of yet for the Pirates and Yankees contest, but when we get the lines we will let you know as soon as possible.

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Who’s Hot/Who’s Not

Who’s Hot: For all of the growing pains Oneil Cruz has faced in a Pirates’ uniform, last Sunday was extremely impressive to watch. The rookie shortstop went 2 for 4 and blasted a double and homer off two-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom.

Who’s Not: Manny Banuelos struggled during his outing Sunday. Banuelos pitched just 0.1 innings and gave up up two earned runs.

Tidbits:

Per Elias Sports Bureau, Cruz is the 11th player to record a home run and a double in the same game against deGrom:
Cruz’s three-run home run was the first deGrom had allowed with two or more runners on base since Aug. 29, 2019, when the Chicago Cubs’ Victor Caratini hit a three-run job off him at Citi Field. Prior to that, the last three-run homer deGrom gave up was to the Miami Marlins’ Giancarlo Stanton on Aug. 20, 2017
Cruz is one of three players to record multiple lead-off hits against deGrom in the first inning. The other two are Dee Strange-Gordon (three) and B.,J. Upton (two).