- Joined
- Oct 3, 2019
- Messages
- 13,609
- Reaction score
- 40,400
- Points
- 148
Off to a mediocre start at 9-9 the Guardians move on to Pittsburgh to take on the 8-12 Pirates. The Bucs are 6-4 at home and 2-8 on the road so the Guardians should not take them lightly.
The Pirates are average at pitching and defense, ranking 15th in ERA and 13th in WHIP. Fangraphs has them 20th defensively and 10th in defensive runs saved.
Offensively they are 24th in scoring at 3.5 runs per game. They rank 24th in strikeout percentage, 27th in on-base percentage, 28th in home runs per game, 29th in OPS, and 30th in slugging percentage. As a team they are batting an absurd .197/.585. They have 13 home runs in 20 games. The one area they are doing well is hitting with runners in scoring position where they rank 8th in wRC+ at 129. They don't get many runners on or hit for power, but they've been good about taking advantage of their opportunities.
Individually, Oneil Cruz has the highest OPS at .826. Catcher Joey Bart is next at .273/.769 followed by Andrew McCutcheon at .233/.689. McCutcheon, 38, played his first nine years with the Pirates, then the next five on four different teams before returning to Pittsburgh for the last three seasons.
The pitching matchups are Luis Ortiz v. Carmen Mlodzinski in the opener, Ben Lively v. Paul Skenes (2-1, 2.96) on Saturday, and Logan Allen v. Mitch Keller (1-2, 4.30) Sunday.
Ortiz makes his first start in Pittsburgh since the Pirates traded him to Cleveland for Spencer Horwitz, who has yet to play for the Pirates and will be out at least three more weeks with a wrist injury. Ortiz was awful in his first start but improved each of the next two and is coming off a 5.1 inning, 1 hit, 1 run, 10 K performance against the Royals.
His former teammates are really struggling at the dish so he has that going for him. Let’s hope he’s not too amped up.
Carmen Mlodzinski (why do I want to call him Carmen Electra?) is a 26-year-old right-hander in his third season with a career mark of 9-10, 3.34 ERA. This year he is 1-2, 6.23. Batters are hitting .309/.759 off him and his WHIP is 1.77. Lefties are killing him with a line of .345/.849 and opposing batters are getting on base at a .377 rate.
However, he has been unlucky as his BABIP is .415 which is unsustainably high. His xFIP is 3.01 after last year’s 4.18, so he’s actually pitching better according to the batted ball data. He has not allowed a home run in 13 innings, but has given up 17 hits and allowed 6 walks.
The second time through the order batters are 10-for-25 against him.
After winning their series against the White Sox and Royals the Guardians fell 1-2 to the Orioles so they need to get back on the horse and win this series. It will be very tough to beat Paul Skenes on Saturday so games 1 and 3 become more important.
The Royals' 8-12 record puts them in third place so the Central is looking pretty weak this year except for Detroit at 11-8. The Tigers are +19 in run differential while the Guardians are -11, the Twins -13, the Royals -19, and the White Sox -22. The Guardians are only a game and a half behind Detroit and the other three teams are floundering. The Royals have lost 7 of 9 but they're still ahead of the Twins and White Sox.
The Guardians can distance themselves from the others and make this a two-team race but they need to beat teams like the Pirates.
The Pirates are average at pitching and defense, ranking 15th in ERA and 13th in WHIP. Fangraphs has them 20th defensively and 10th in defensive runs saved.
Offensively they are 24th in scoring at 3.5 runs per game. They rank 24th in strikeout percentage, 27th in on-base percentage, 28th in home runs per game, 29th in OPS, and 30th in slugging percentage. As a team they are batting an absurd .197/.585. They have 13 home runs in 20 games. The one area they are doing well is hitting with runners in scoring position where they rank 8th in wRC+ at 129. They don't get many runners on or hit for power, but they've been good about taking advantage of their opportunities.
Individually, Oneil Cruz has the highest OPS at .826. Catcher Joey Bart is next at .273/.769 followed by Andrew McCutcheon at .233/.689. McCutcheon, 38, played his first nine years with the Pirates, then the next five on four different teams before returning to Pittsburgh for the last three seasons.
The pitching matchups are Luis Ortiz v. Carmen Mlodzinski in the opener, Ben Lively v. Paul Skenes (2-1, 2.96) on Saturday, and Logan Allen v. Mitch Keller (1-2, 4.30) Sunday.
Ortiz makes his first start in Pittsburgh since the Pirates traded him to Cleveland for Spencer Horwitz, who has yet to play for the Pirates and will be out at least three more weeks with a wrist injury. Ortiz was awful in his first start but improved each of the next two and is coming off a 5.1 inning, 1 hit, 1 run, 10 K performance against the Royals.
His former teammates are really struggling at the dish so he has that going for him. Let’s hope he’s not too amped up.
Carmen Mlodzinski (why do I want to call him Carmen Electra?) is a 26-year-old right-hander in his third season with a career mark of 9-10, 3.34 ERA. This year he is 1-2, 6.23. Batters are hitting .309/.759 off him and his WHIP is 1.77. Lefties are killing him with a line of .345/.849 and opposing batters are getting on base at a .377 rate.
However, he has been unlucky as his BABIP is .415 which is unsustainably high. His xFIP is 3.01 after last year’s 4.18, so he’s actually pitching better according to the batted ball data. He has not allowed a home run in 13 innings, but has given up 17 hits and allowed 6 walks.
The second time through the order batters are 10-for-25 against him.
After winning their series against the White Sox and Royals the Guardians fell 1-2 to the Orioles so they need to get back on the horse and win this series. It will be very tough to beat Paul Skenes on Saturday so games 1 and 3 become more important.
The Royals' 8-12 record puts them in third place so the Central is looking pretty weak this year except for Detroit at 11-8. The Tigers are +19 in run differential while the Guardians are -11, the Twins -13, the Royals -19, and the White Sox -22. The Guardians are only a game and a half behind Detroit and the other three teams are floundering. The Royals have lost 7 of 9 but they're still ahead of the Twins and White Sox.
The Guardians can distance themselves from the others and make this a two-team race but they need to beat teams like the Pirates.
