Pirates

Pirates Daily: Zach Thompson & Buccos Have a Chance to Sweep the Brew Crew

Published

2 years ago

August 4, 2022

Thursday, Aug. 4, the Pittsburgh Pirates (42-62) finish their three-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers (57-47 at PNC Park. The Pirates have a chance to sweep the National League Central-leading Brewers. Will the weather hold up? Early reports say yes, with the temperature at 86 degrees, no rain, and an eight mph southwest wind at first pitch (12:35 p.m.)

The game will be broadcast on AT&T Sportsnet PIT and over the airwaves on SportsRadio 93.7 THE FAN.

UPDATE (12:26 p.m.) Here is the Pirates’ lineup.

Thursday afternoon baseball.#LetsGoBucs pic.twitter.com/2fLJulKZTC

— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) August 4, 2022

UPDATE (10:39 a.m.) Bryan Reynolds has won the Heart and Hustle Award and is the Pirates’ representative.

Starters

Starting for the Pittsburgh Pirates will be Zach Thompson (3-8, 5.09 ERA). He is scheduled to face Brandon Woodruff (9-3, 3.55 ERA).

Thompson is coming off of a very brutal start on July 28 against the Phillies, when he gave up 12 hits and seven earned runs in 5.2 innings pitched.

Woodruff is coming off of the opposite performance where he pitched 6.1 innings and gave up four hits and one earned run against the Red Sox.

Betting Odds

The Pirates continue to be underdogs, with the moneyline sitting at PIT +210 and MIL at -250. The over/under opens up at eight runs, with the run line looking like PIT +1.5 (+120) and MIL -1.5 (-140).

Who’s Hot/Who’s Not?

Who’s Hot: If you include his last 10 games in Triple-A, Tucupita Marcano has now hit safely in 11 straight games. He went 3 for 4 with an RBI in Wednesday night’s 8-7 win over the Brewers after being called up from Indianapolis before the game.

Who’s Not: In his last 24 at-bats, Ben Gamel is batting .125/.250/.208 with no RBIs and six strikeouts.

Tidbits

Colin Holderman became the 57th different player to appear in a game this season for the Pirates (the Mariners and Angels are tied for the second-most players used with 54 apiece). Holderman also earned the win in his Pirates debut to improve to 5-0 overall on the season between the Mets and Bucs (it’s tied for the fourth-longest active win streak in the NL). Holderman has now allowed just one unearned run in 7.1 innings in his last six games in the big leagues.
The Pirates have recorded an extra-base hit in a season-high 41 consecutive games…The only team in MLB with a longer active streak is the Blue Jays (45). This is also Pittsburgh’s longest consecutive streak with an extra-base hit since 2019 (64 games)
Tyler Beede became the 12th different pitcher to start for the Pirates this season on Wednesday night. The Pirates used 17 starters during the 2021 campaign.