Pirates

Pirates Preview: Ortiz Last Hope to Avoid Second Straight Sweep

Published

11 months ago

June 18, 2023

The Pittsburgh Pirates (34-35) have lost five straight games after a shutout loss to the Milwaukee Brewers (36-34) by a score of 5-0 Saturday evening.

Mitch Keller fanned seven Brewers in his outing on Saturday, but thanks to a Joey Wiemer two-run homer in the third inning and a misplayed ball in the fifth by Connor Joe, Keller was charged with four earned runs in five innings.

Roansy Contreras pitched two perfect innings of relief on Saturday, setting six straight down, which I guess is a positive sign for the Pirates in an ugly game all around.

The first pitch at American Family Field is scheduled for 2:10 p.m. ET. Sunday’s game will be aired on AT&T Sportsnet and will be aired on the Pirates radio network 93.7 The Fan.

Weather

American Family Field is a dome, so no worries about the weather; this series

The Pirates will send out RHP Luis Ortiz (1-3, 4.64 ERA)

Luis Ortiz is the Pirates’ last hope to salvage a game in Milwaukee, before coming back home to face the Chicago Cubs for a three-game set.

In Ortiz’s last outing, he was less than stellar against the Cubs on June 13.

Ortiz pitched 5.1 innings while giving up six hits, four earned runs, two walks, and four strikeouts. In addition, Ortiz threw 92 pitches (56 strikes).

Ortiz was primarily slider-heavy in his last start (47%), but the telling sign of Ortiz’s struggles was his four-seamer, which got no whiffs.

In addition, Ortiz got hit hard in his last outing and averaged an exit velocity of 95.3 mph on 17 balls put into play. Not what you call a formula for success.

Ortiz has never faced the Brewers.

The Brewers will send out RHP Freddy Peralta (5-6, 4.73 ERA)

Peralta has struggled for the Brewers this season in his 70.1 innings of work. In his last start on June 11 against the Oakland Athletics, Peralta pitched five innings while giving up three hits, four earned runs, two walks, and five strikeouts.

Peralta was tagged with the loss after the Brewers fell 8-6.

Peralta, in that last start, induced 13 whiffs and got the majority of his whiffs with his high-velocity fastball (95 mph average). Peralta’s other pitches include a slider, curveball, and changeup.

Peralta has faced the Pirates

Brewers Hitters vs. Ortiz

No current Brewers have faced Ortiz

Pirates Hitters vs. Peralta

Bryan Reynolds: 9-19 with a double, triple, four walks, and five strikeouts
Andrew McCutchen: 4-6 with two doubles
Ke’Bryan Hayes: 1-10 with two strikeouts
Rodolfo Castro: 1-8 with three strikeouts

Tidbits

The Pirates are now 1.5 games back of the Brewers and are in danger of getting swept for the second straight series if they indeed fall on Sunday.
Keller’s 14 whiffs were the most he’s had since May 31 against the San Francisco Giants, where he had 14 as well. The last time Keller surpassed 14 whiffs in a game was on April 27 against the Los Angles Dodgers, where he had 15.
Contreras pitched two extremely good innings in relief Saturday after setting down six straight on 17 pitches. The last time Contreras gave up no runs in an outing was on May 28 against the Seattle Mariners, where he went two scoreless in relief.