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Pirates Preview: Oviedo & Company Look to Win Second Series in Row

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Pittsburgh Pirates, Johan Oviedo

The Pittsburgh Pirates (5-3) finish their three-game series against the Chicago White Sox on an Easter Sunday afternoon. The Pirates will try and take the rubber match and claim their second series win in a row.

The Pirates fell 11-5 Saturday night after Vince Velasquez couldn’t make it through three innings with an apparent injury of some sort.

The good news for Pirates’ fans, is Andrew McCutchen blasted his first homer in a Pirates’ uniform since returning to Pittsburgh over the winter.

First pitch is scheduled for 1:35 p.m. You can watch the game on AT&T Sportsnet, or listen to it on the Pirates radio network, 93.7 The Fan.

Weather

The temperature at first pitch should be around 58 degrees with sunny skies. There will be a slight wind at six mph while blowing northeast.

Starters

The Pirates will send out RHP Johan Oviedo

Oviedo struggled throughout his start on April 3 against the Boston Red Sox.

Where Oviedo struggles the most is when he throws his four-seamer. Oviedo kept the majority of his fastballs at the top of the zone except for four instances. For Oviedo, there were just two balls put in play with the fastball, but they were both hit hard and resulted in homers.

Oviedo needs to stick with his slider as his main pitch, and if he can work off of his slider, he may be able to use his other pitches as weapons and get more swing and miss than he normally gets.

Oviedo has never faced the White Sox in his 147.2 career innings pitched in the major leagues.

The White Sox will send out, righty, Michael Kopech.

Kopech’s start on April 3 against the Giants was something of a disaster.

In just 4.2 innings pitched, Kopech allowed seven earned runs on eight hits, with three walks, with five strikeouts against the Houston Astros.

Kopech stuck with his four-seam the majority of the time and averaged around 95 mph throughout the game. His four-seam had eight balls put in play and had an average exit velocity of 89.8 mph with a max of 108.9 mph.

Kopech has faced the Pirates one time coming out of the pen and pitched a clean inning while getting two strikeouts.

Interesting Batting Match Ups

Carlos Santana is 3-6 against Kopech, with two of his hits coming by way of home runs. Santana has also drawn two walks.

No current White Sox player has faced Oviedo.

Tidbits

  • The Pirates had eight extra-base hits on Friday, which was the most recorded for the team since Aug. 20, 2020, against the Brewers, where they recorded nine.
  • Bryan Reynolds entering Saturday’s game is ranked 7th in most extra-base hits in his first 500 games as a Pirate with 197. Paul Waner leads the way with 232 extra-base hits.
  • Three different Pirates’ pitchers have recorded a save with David Bednar, Duane Underwood Jr., and Wil Crowe. The three have combined for five saves in their first seven games. The last occurrence of this was in 1993 when John Candelaria, Paul Wagner, and Stan Belinda did it.

Links

Pittsburgh Pirates Prospect Mason Martin Slowly Taking Steps in Right Direction (+)

Perrotto: Is It Wise to Believe Pirates’ Start is Real?

Bryan Reynolds Worth Every (Hypothetical) Penny (+)

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