Pirates

Pirates Preview: Offense Needs a Breakout Game Against Megill

Published

11 months ago

June 9, 2023

The Pittsburgh Pirates (32-29) had a major lapse against the Oakland Athletics and dropped two out of three games to the worst team in baseball. The Pirates will try and turn things around as they face the New York Mets (30-32) in a three-game set.

In their most recent game, Roansy Contreras couldn’t make it out of the first inning, and the Athletics put up a nine spot against the Pirates in a 9-5 victory.

Rodolfo Castro tried to will the Pirates back with a three-RBI game but to no avail.

The first pitch at PNC Park is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. Friday’s game will be aired on AT&T Sportsnet. You can also listen to the game on the Pirates radio station, 93.7 The Fan.

Weather

Expect mostly cloudy skies at first pitch, with temperatures right at 71 degrees. There will be a slight northwest wind blowing around 8-9 mph throughout the contest.

The Pirates will send out LHP Rich Hill (5-5, 4.41 ERA)

Hill had to work through a lot of traffic in his last outing on June 4 against the Cardinals, but like the wily veteran he is, Hill got out of multiple pickles unscathed.

During that outing against the Cardinals, Hill pitched a season-high 6.2 innings while giving up four hits, one earned run, three walks, and striking out six.

Hill stuck with his bread and butter in his last start with his curveball (43%) and four-seam (26%).

Hill’s curveball averaged 96.1 mph in exit velocity with eight balls put into play, and his four-seam averaged 83.5 mph with five balls put into play.

Hill has faced the Mets nine times (seven starts) and holds a 2-2 record with an ERA of 6.69 in 35 innings pitched.

The Mets will send out RHP Tylor Megill (5-3, 4.40 ERA)

Megill was extremely wild in his last start on June 3 against the Toronto Blue Jays, issuing five walks in 5.1 innings pitched. Despite the wildness, Megill allowed only one earned run on five hits and struck out five.

In his previous two starts, the righty pitched just 7.2 combined innings while giving up 16 hits, eight earned runs, four walks, and eight strikeouts.

Megill offers a four-pitch mix with a four-seam (52.9%), slider (20.8%), changeup (17.9%), and a curveball (8.3%). In addition, Megill’s four-seam averages 94.4 mph.

It’ll be interesting to see how Megill’s 33rd-percentile whiff rate holds up against the Pirates, who are currently ranked eighth best in strikeouts by batters at 510.

Megill has faced the Pirates twice (two starts) and holds an 0-0 record with an ERA of 0.93 in 9.2 innings pitched.

Mets Hitters

Pete Alonso: 0-3 with three strikeouts
Mark Canha: 0-5 with two strikeouts

Pirates Hitters

Ke’Bryan Hayes: 3-5

Tidbits

Andrew McCutchen, in the Oakland series, went 1-6, but walked seven times, and gathered two RBIs. Baseball is a weird game.
Dauri Moreta, in his last seven appearances, has given up no earned runs on just four hits, walked two, and struck out eight. In addition, Moreta has allowed just one inherited runner to score this season out of 21 total, which leads the National League.
The Pirates hold a 395-369 record all-time against the Mets. In 2022, the Pirates lost the season series to the Mets by only winning one game out of seven.