Pirates

Pirates Daily: Get Ready For Another Bullpen Day

Published

2 years ago

August 20, 2022

Saturday, Aug. 20, the Pittsburgh Pirates (47-72) play in game two of a three-game weekend series with their National League Central rival Cincinnati Reds (46-71) at PNC Park. The Pirates are coming off of an exciting Friday night when Michael Chavis sent the fans home happy with a walk-off single in the ninth inning for a 5-4 win.

The weather at PNC Park for first pitch (7:05 p.m.) looks to be a slight chance of rain, with the temperature around 83 degrees. Rain is in the forecast throughout the night, so we shall see if the game is even played.

The game will air on AT&T Sportsnet Pittsburgh and 93.7 The Fan

Starters

If the game does indeed happen, the Pirates will send out Tyler Beede (1-2, 3.72 ERA) for yet another bullpen game. Beede, in his last outing, threw a season-high 74 pitches in just three innings Aug. 13 against the Giants. Beede also gave up three walks, three hits, and two earned runs.

The Reds will send out rookie right-hander Justin Dunn (0-1, 8.64 ERA). In his two career starts in the majors, Dunn has allowed eight runs, 12 hits, and walked four in 8.1 innings..

Betting Odds

The Pittsburgh Pirates, for the first time in a long time, open up as favorites on the moneyline with a -130, whereas the Reds open up as +110 underdogs. Pittsburgh’s run line of -1.5 can be had at +165 as the Reds +1.5 opens up at -200. The O/U for Saturday night’s matchup opens at nine runs.

Who’s Hot/Who’s Not

Who’s Hot: Ben Gamel has been on fire in his last five games for the Pirates. In that span, Gamel has amassed seven hits in 20 at-bats (.350 average), eight RBIs, and struck out five times.

Who’s Not: Jason Delay has hit a rough patch after starting off extremely hot. In his last 37 at-bats, Delay is batting .189/.250/.189 and has struck out 15 times.

Tidbits:

With JT Brubaker and Bryse Wilson each throwing seven innings the last two days, this marks the first time since Aug. 16-17, 2019, that the Pirates had starters pitch seven-plus innings on consecutive days. Joe Musgrove (7.1) and Steven Brault (seven) were the last pair of Bucco starters to accomplish the feat.
Those seven innings pitched for Wilson were a career-high.
Gamel has knocked in a run in five consecutive games, the longest streak by a Pirates player within a single season since Josh Bell also did so from July 1-5, 2019