Pirates

Pirates Daily: Contreras-Mikolas an Intriguing Matchup

Published

2 years ago

September 9, 2022

Friday, Sept. 9, the Pittsburgh Pirates (50-86) begin a three-game weekend series against the National League Central-leading St. Louis Cardinals (81-57) at 6:35 p.m. at PNC Park.

The Pirates are coming off of two losses Wednesday against the the NL East-leading New York Mets in a doubleheader at PNC Park. The Pirates have now lost seven of their last 10 games.

The Cardinals lost their series finale against the Washington Nationals Thursday, but have won seven of their last 10.

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

Starters

Kicking the series off for the Pirates will be Roansy Contreras (4-4, 3.41 ERA). Contreras pitched an effective six innings in his last start last Saturday against the Toronto Blue Jays. In his last start, Contreras used his slider 46% of the time and induced nine out of his 12 swings and misses with it.

Starting for the Cardinals will be Miles Mikolas (11-10, 3.32 ERA). Mikolas was dominant in his last start last Sunday against the Chicago Cubs, going eight innings while giving up no runs and two hits. In his last start, Mikolas evenly distributed his four-seam (30%), curveball (26%), slider (20%) and sinker (20%) while sprinkling in a changeup (3%).

Betting Odds

The Cardinals open up as -200 favorites, with the Pirates listed as +165 underdogs on the moneyline. The Cardinals’ runline of -1.5 stands at -114 whereas the Pirates +1.5 is -105. The O/U is 8.5.

Who’s Hot/Who’s Not

Who’s Hot: Oneil Cruz has been swinging a hot bat over his last week’s worth of games for the Pirates. Cruz is batting .310/.310/.621 in 29 at-bats with two homers and four RBIs.

Who’s Not: Tucupita Marcano has been dreadful since his recall from Triple-A Indianapolis. Over the last week’s worth of games, he’s batting .125/.160/.208 in 24 at-bats.

Tidbits:

Pittsburgh Pirates infield prospect Tsung-Che Cheng, who is playing for Low-A Bradenton, was named the Florida State League player of the month for August. Cheng is the fifth different Pirates’ minor leaguer to take home a league player of the month award in 2022.
Pirates’ closer David Bednar was named a Roberto Clemente Award finalist Thursday afternoon. The Roberto Clemente Award is given annually to Major League Baseball to the player who best represents the game through extraordinary character, community involvement, philanthropy and positive contributions, both on and off the field.
In the first game of Wednesday’s doubleheader, Bryse Wilson became the first Pirates pitcher to pitch six-plus innings as a reliever since Kris Johnson on Aug. 18 2013.