Pirates

Pirates Daily: Can Keller Maintain His Dominant September?

Published

2 years ago

September 22, 2022

Thursday, Sept. 22, the Pittsburgh Pirates (55-94) return home to face the Chicago Cubs (64-85) at PNC Park. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35.

The Pirates return home losers of six straight after getting swept by the Mets in four games and the Yankees in two. In their last ten games, the Pirates hold a record of 4-6.

The Cubs come in winners of their last two, taking their most recent series against the Marlins. The Cubs are 6-4 over their last ten games.

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

Weather

Be sure to bring your jackets with the weather forecasted to be around 58 degrees at first pitch. Clouds are expected to cover the Pittsburgh skies and a strong 15 mph wind blowing northwest.

Starters

The Pirates will send out Mitch Keller (5-11, 4.03 ERA).

For a brief moment, Keller had his ERA down in the threes, but in his last start against the Mets, Keller allowed three earned runs in six innings. Still, Keller has performed extremely well in September with an ERA of 1.42 in 19 innings pitched.

The Pirates will face rookie right-hander Hayden Wesneski (1-1, 2.30 ERA).

Wesneski has only pitched in three games since being called up on Sept. 5, but over that time, he has pitched rather well. In his most recent start on Sept. 17, Wesneski pitched seven innings against the Rockies and only gave up one earned run and three hits.

Betting Odds

TBD

Who’s Hot/Who’s Not

Who’s Hot: Rodolfo Castro was the Pirates’ player to have a multi-hit game during Wednesday’s 14-2 loss against the Yankees. Ke’Bryan Hayes drove in the two runs, so I guess it goes to Hayes and Castro.

Who’s Not: Between Miguel Yajure and Eric Stout, they pitched two innings and gave up eight earned runs. Not a good look for the Pirates’ bullpen.

Tidbits:

Roansy Contreras is the first Pirates pitcher to have ten strikeouts and pitch in less than five innings.
Wesneski has a five-pitch mix but will primarily throw a slider (33.8%), four-seam (26.6%), and a sinker (24.5%). Wesneski will throw a cutter (8.9%) and a changeup (6.3%) on occasion.
Contreras’ ten strikeout performance was the 18th occurrence a Pirates rookie has recorded 10+ strikeouts in a game. The last Pirates’ pitcher to do so was Gerrit Cole on Sept. 19, 2013, against the Padres.