- Analysis
- 8* Pittsburgh (6:35 ET): I know that backing the Pirates isn’t exactly the “sexy” move right now, but after being drubbed over the weekend by St. Louis (here at home), they should come out highly motivated for the opener of this new series. The Bucs are getting an ideal opponent in Colorado, who has dropped 10 of its last 13 overall, including six of nine on a recently completed homestand. The Rockies just played a doubleheader on Saturday, so that’s three games in the last two days for them and as we all know, they are traditionally a terrible team away from Coors Field. They are 1-9 L10 games as a road underdog.
The Pirates were absolutely humiliated on Sunday, losing 18-4 to the Cardinals in an early start time. It was 7-0 by the second inning. But they should count on getting a better start here from JT Brubaker, who had 10 strikeouts in his last start and also threw six shutout innings of four hit ball in his lone start vs. Colorado last season. The Rockies just are not doing much scoring on the road this year, averaging only 2.7 runs per game, the fewest in the National League. Furthermore, when facing a right-hander on the road, the team is last in batting average, 29th in slugging and 29th in OPS. They are getting outscored by more than 3.0 rpg on the road thus far! Did I mention that, at home, Colorado was shutout on Sunday? Their current lineup is batting just .150 all-time vs. Brubaker.
The Rockies inability to hit/score runs on the road is especially problematic tonight as they send Chad Kuhl to the mound. Kuhl has a 7.54 ERA and 1.754 WHIP over his L3 starts and the team has lost them all. He’s allowed 5 ER in B2B outings. As a former member of the Pirates, Kuhl knows PNC Park well, but I don’t think that will help him in this instance. The Rockies’ relief pitching is no better as they are last in bullpen ERA. Something else to note is that the team has lost its last six series openers. This is one of the rare times Pittsburgh is a justified ML favorite. 8* Pittsburgh
