Pirates

Pirates Preview: Vince Velasquez Looks for Rebound

Published

1 year ago

April 8, 2023

The Pittsburgh Pirates (5-2) are home and will look to extend their winning streak to five as they face the Chicago White Sox (3-5) in game two of three. In a playoff-type atmosphere with nostalgia at an all-time high, the Pirates exploded to a 13-9 win.

Bryan Reynolds, Connor Joe, and Ji-Hwan Bae propelled the Pirates on Friday afternoon after the starter; Rich Hill, struggled to get his feet under him with seven runs given up in just four innings.

There is a buzz in the air for the Pirates this early in the season. Can they sustain this

First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. and can be viewed on AT&T Sportsnet, or if you prefer radio, you can listen to it on 93.7 The Fan.

Weather

The temperature at first pitch should be around 58 degrees, with a five mph wind blowing northeast. No rain is expected, so we should have a full ball game.

Starters

The Pirates will send out RHP Vince Velasquez

Velasquez struggled to control his pitches in his first start of the year on April 2.

On three separate occasions, Velasquez left a pitch in the upper quadrant. Two of those pitches were sliders left up, and his last pitch of the game was a mid-90s fastball left middle-middle to T.J. Friedl.

Velasquez’s final line read 4.2 innings pitched, five hits, three earned runs, one walk, and three Ks.

Velasquez stuck with his four-seam more often than not, with around a 49% usage rate. The other pitches Velasquez used against the Reds were his knuckle curve (29% usage), slider (13% usage), changeup (8% usage), and one sinker.

Velasquez has faced the White Sox once (one start) and has an 0-0 record with an ERA of 0.00 in five innings.

The White Sox will send out, righty, Mike Clevinger.

Clevinger dominated his outing against the Houston Astros on April 2.

Clevinger went a total of five innings, with three hits, no earned runs, three walks, and eight strikeouts. Out of his total 98 pitches thrown, Clevinger threw around a 61% strike rate.

Clevinger induced 13 swings and misses, with all of them coming from his four-seam (six) and slider (seven) combo. Out of 31 sliders thrown, Clevinger had just one of them put in play.

Clevinger usually sticks with his slider/four-seam, so the Pirates should expect a heavy dose of both of those pitches.

Clevinger has never faced the Pirates in his 661.2 innings pitched as a major leaguer.

Interesting Batting Match Ups

Yasmani Grandal is 4-10 with two homers against Velasquez.

Carlos Santana is 2-6 with one homer against Clevinger.

Tidbits

Connor Joe, Ji Hwan Bae, and Connor Joe have each produced 3 hits in Friday afternoon’s game, marking the first time the Pirates have had their 7th, 8th, and 9th hitters each accumulate 3+ hits in the same game since Aug. 12, 1921, vs. Cubs.
The Pirates’ 17 hits in Friday’s opener are the most by the Pirates in the home opener during the modern era (since 1968)
With 6 RBI against the White Sox on Friday, Bryan Reynolds matched his single-game career-high…the other instance came on June 29, 2022, at Washington (he hit 3 HR that day).