Pirates

Pirates Preview: Can Buccos Keep Incredible Roll Going in D.C.?

Published

1 year ago

April 28, 2023

Cody Potanko

UPDATE: Rich Hill is scheduled to start game one and Vince Velasquez will get game two.

UPDATE: The Pirates and Nationals game has been postponed for Friday.

The Pirates and Nationals will play a split doubleheader Saturday with game one starting at 1:05 p.m. and game two starting at 6:05 p.m.

The Pittsburgh Pirates (18-8) head on the road and will face the Washington Nationals (9-14) in game one of three

Thursday afternoon, the Pirates’ offense exploded yet again for a 6-2 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers and took two out of three games to solidify their best record in the National League.

The Pirates exploded for three runs in the first inning after falling down 2-0 in the top of the inning and then ran away with the lead after three more runs in the bottom of the sixth.

Connor Joe and Rodolfo Castro went back-to-back with homers and even had another three stolen bases adding to their N.L. lead in that department.

First pitch at Nationals Park is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. You can watch all of the action on AT&T Sportsnet or listen to it on the Pirates radio network, 100.1 KDKA FM

Weather

It isn’t looking good in terms of weather for the Pirates and Nationals. From first pitch, all the way through 3:00 A.M., rain is expected. Temperatures will range from 56-57 degrees and will have a wind of around 12 mph blowing northeast.

The Pirates will send out LHP Rich Hill (2-2, 4.85 ERA)

After a rough start to the season, Hill has really settled down and has shown some veteran savvy in his last three starts.

Over his last three starts, Hill has a combined 17 innings pitched and has given up four earned runs, 17 hits, seven walks, and 14 strikeouts.

In his last start on April 22 against the Cincinnati Reds, Hill went five strong innings and struck out seven with just one run given up.

One of the main reasons Hill succeeded against the Reds was keeping hitters off balance with his curveball/four-seam combo, and because of that combo, he gave up an average EV of just 88.2 mph.

Hill has played in 11 times (eight starts) and holds a 2-4 record with an ERA of 4.07.

The Nationals will send out former Pirate, Chad Kuhl (0-1, 7.36 ERA).

Kuhl has had some issues this season keeping his pitch count down, and as a result, he can’t get out of the fifth inning.

In his last start on April 22, against the Minnesota Twins, Kuhl managed to go just 3.2 innings despite giving up one earned run on three hits, but the walk numbers hurt him with four.

Kuhl threw nearly 100 pitches in his last outing with 96 and only threw 49 strikes which is just around a 51% strike rate.

The former Pirates pitcher has mainly four pitches with a slider (42.8%), sinker (25.4%), four-seam (14.4%), and a curveball (11.6%). He will also throw an occasional changeup (5.8%).

Kuhl’s sinker has been the nail in his early coffin so far, with opponents hitting an astonishing .600 average with an EV of 100.2 mph.

Kuhl has faced his former club once (one start) and holds a 1-0 record with an ERA of 2.08

Interesting Batting Match Ups

Nationals Hitters

Luis Garcia: 3-6 with three doubles against Hill
Jeimer Candelario: 1-6 against Hill

Pirates Hitters

Ke’Bryan Hayes: 2-2 with one double against Kuhl

Tidbits

The Pirates scored a total of 21 runs against the Dodgers and scored at least six runs in each of the three games. During their 18-8 start, the Pirates have scored at least six runs in eight different games. In 2022, the Pirates scored six or more six times in April.
Ji-Hwan Bae is currently ranked second in the N.L. with ten stolen bases. The only other player ahead of Bae is Ronald Acuna, with 13.
With three stolen bases on Thursday, the Pirates have surpassed the Cleveland Guardians for MLB’s lead in stolen bases as a team with 37 total. (The Guardians have 31).