Don’t look now, but we got three games between Houston and Pittsburgh.
GameTimes and Starting Pitchers
Tuesday, 5:40PM CT: Lance McCullers, Jr. (0-1, 5.89) vs. Paul Skenes (4-5, 2.15)
Wednesday, 5:40PM CT: Ryan Gusto (3-2, 4.62) vs. Mike Burrows (0-1, 8.64)
Thursday, 5:40PM CT: Framber Valdez (5-4, 3.12) vs. Mitch Keller (1-7, 3.73)
Pickem!
Poll
What’s about to happen?
8%
Houston will blow the Pirates out of the water
(3 votes)
69%
Pittsburgh wins one game, arrr
(25 votes)
16%
The Bucs raise the Jolly Roger twice
(6 votes)
5%
Astros walk the deck three times
(2 votes)
36 votes total
The Astros are now 32-27, just a half-game behind the AL West Division leading Seattle Mariners and tied with the Minnesota Twins for the fifth-best record in the American League. The Pirates are looking at a 22-38 record, sit 15 1⁄2 games behind the NL Central Division leading Chicago Cubs (and 6 1⁄2 games behind the fourth-place Cincinnati Reds). If it weren’t for the walking heartbreak in Colorado, the Pirates would be the worst team in the National League.
June has already started, and Pittsburgh is nearly mathematically eliminated from any postseason contention. B/R has them at >0.1 percent odds of reaching the playoffs. They’ve gone LWWLLWWLWL over their last 10. Houston’s up to 81.6 percent by the same source, and have a recent track record of WLWWWWLWLW.
Houston’s last game, a 1-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays, featured a grand total of six hits between the two teams, a collective .107 batting average. That’s ok though, because only two of those hits were from Tampa Bay, and Hunter Brown only gave up one hit over six innings. He struck out five, walked four, and got 49-of-93 pitches over the black. Josh Hader got his 15th save of the season, striking out a pair in a perfect ninth. Christian Walker drove in the only run of the day with a first inning single, scoring Jeremy Peña.
I had to make some big pitches there in some spots, especially the sixth inning. — Brown
The Buccos last faced off against the Friars in San Diego, winning only the middle contest of three. In the final game, like Houston’s on Sunday, the Padres won, 6-4 despite a decent effort by Pittsburgh starter Andrew Heaney. The loss was absorbed by Tanner Rainey (0-1, 10.57). No player on the team collected more than one hit, but Andrew McCutchen (5) and Adam Frazier (3) went deep.
We’ve got to bring the same energy, try to play our best game every single day — Fernando Tatis, Jr., on San Diego’s win
Last season’s meeting between Houston and Pittsburgh took place from July 29 through July 31, with Houston losing the first two before salvaging the final game, 5-4. In the finale, Framber Valdez (10-5, 3.56) picked up the win, striking out 10 and walking zero over six innings. He gave up four runs on six hits. Yainer Díaz finished with a pair of hits, and Mauricio Dubón (4) hit a home run in a pinch-hit appearance.
It didn’t matter to me. I’m going to go up there early to make something happen. I was not trying to hit a home run. I was trying to get on base for the guys and ended up catching it out front. — Dubón
After this series, Houston will move on for a three-game showdown versus the Cleveland Guardians, while the Pirates will have three dates with the Philadelphia Phillies.
In the meantime, for those interested, I’ll be doing a live postcast after the game over at Playback TV. This will be an interactive postcast, meaning you can chat via the chatbox or you can actually get onto the podcast (by requesting it). I’ll look for you all there. Warning: If nobody else shows up, I’ll still be doing it, shouting into the void (but that’s ok, too).