SAN DIEGO — The Pirates pitching homecoming continues Saturday night at Petco Park.
On Friday
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Saturday night, the focus shifts to northern San Diego County as Rancho Bernardo High grad Trevor Williams starts for the Pirates against his hometown club.
While Musgrove and Brault were facing the Padres for the first time, the 26-year-old Williams pitched six innings against the Padres on May 20 in Pittsburgh. He gave up four runs on four hits — including a two-run homer to Christian Villanueva — in six innings but did not get a decision in a game won by the Padres, 8-5.
The right-handed Williams (6-5, 4.03 ERA in 16 starts) will be opposed by left-handed rookie Joey Lucchesi (3-3, 3.57 ERA). Lucchesi had just gone on the disabled list with a strained glute muscle when the Padres visited Pittsburgh in May.
Williams started the season with three straight wins but is 1-3 with a 6.09 ERA over his last seven starts. However, he allowed only one hit with seven strikeouts in seven scoreless innings in a 1-0 win over the Milwaukee Brewers two starts ago on June 18. That happened to be his only win since May 15.
Saturday night will be his eighth road start of the season. He is 2-2 with a 4.42 ERA on the road. But he is 0-2 with a 7.23 ERA in his last four road starts after opening the season with a 2-0 mark and a 1.50 ERA in his first three road starts.
Williams is coming off a loss in his most recent start against the Arizona Diamondbacks last Sunday afternoon. Williams gave up three runs on five hits in six innings while the Pirates were being shutout.
Lucchesi, 25, will be making his third start since returning from the disabled list June 20.
His first outing on the day he was activated lasted only 1 2/3 innings as he gave up four runs on three hits — including two homers — and two walks in just 1 2/3 innings against Oakland. On June 26, Lucchesi allowed no runs and only one hit and two walks with four strikeouts in Texas, but came out of the game after four innings when he reached his pre-set limit of 70 pitches.
Padres manager Andy Green said Lucchesi now has the green light to go deeper into Saturday’s game if the performance merits it.
Saturday will be Lucchesi’s 12th start around his 33-game stay on the disabled list. At the time of his injury, Lucchesi was 3-2 with a 3.23 ERA in nine starts – although his ERA had climbed in five of his six starts before going in the disabled list. The Padres are 4-7 in games started by Lucchesi — who has given up 10 home runs in 53 innings, accounting for 15 of the 23 runs he has allowed.
The Cincinnati Reds are much better now than they were a month into the season
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Not only DeSclafani, the pitcher. DeSclafani, the hitter, too.
The Reds return to Great American Ball Park on Thursday to take on the first-place Milwaukee Brewers, but that’s nothing new of late for interim manager Jim Riggleman’s resurgent team.
The Reds have played their last seven games against teams that were in first place or within percentage points of the top spot. They swept the Cubs in four games and won two of three in Atlanta.
“It says a lot for our club that we can play first-place clubs and win these series,” Riggleman said Wednesday following a come-from-behind 6-5 win at Atlanta, the Reds’ ninth victory in 10 games and 12th victory in 15 games.
“(We want to) keep rolling into Cincinnati,” Adam Duvall said after his two-run single keyed a three-run seventh inning that included a Scooter Gennett RBI single.
DeSclafani (3-1, 4.09 ERA) is a big presence during the surge, and not just because he’s won his last three starts — this after missing all of last season and the first two months of this season with multiple injuries. After missing so much time, the Reds simply weren’t sure what they would get from him this season.
His last time out, the right-handed DeSclafani limited the Cubs to two runs and three hits in 6 1/3 innings, and he contributed the game’s biggest hit Saturday with a grand slam — the first slam by a Cincinnati pitcher in 59 years.
DeSclafani will be yet another bat in the Reds’ order that Milwaukee right-hander Junior Guerra (3-5
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The Brewers continue to occupy first place in the division, but even a three-run ninth inning wasn’t enough Wednesday as they lost 5-4 at home to the last-place Kansas City Royals, whose .313 winning percentage is the second-worst in the majors.
“Even in our losses, we’re making the other team work a lot,” starting pitcher Brent Suter told reporters. “From that respect, I love how we’re playing. (But) it would be nice to win some of these series.”
The Brewers have lost six of their last 10 games, and now they must take on a Reds team that doesn’t look anything now like the team Milwaukee swept in a three-game series April 30-May 2 at Great American Ball Park — losses that dropped the Reds to 7-24. The Brewers have won five of six overall from the Reds this season.
“We just want to keep winning. If we take series after series we’re going to be just fine,” said Reds reliever Jackson Stephens (2-0), who got the win Wednesday with 1 2/3 scoreless relief innings.
The Brewers, conversely, led 1-0 Wednesday, only to have Suter and reliever Josh Hader give up five runs in the seventh inning. Hader allowed a two-run single to Adalberto Mondesi, Lucas Duda’s sacrifice fly and Whit Merrifield’s RBI single — the first time in 27 games this season Hader has given up more than one hit in an inning.
“Josh’s velocity was good. Everything was good
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The Reds certainly didn’t get to Guerra when they faced him on April 17.
Guerra didn’t get the decision in a 2-0 Brewers win, but he shut out the Reds on one hit over 5 2/3 innings, striking out seven and walking three. In his career, he is 1-1 with a 4.76 ERA against Cincinnati in five games, including four starts.
Most of the current Reds hitters have only a minimal number of at-bats against Guerra, with Eugenio Suarez going 2-for-3 with a homer.
DeSclafani is 2-2 with a 4.15 ERA in five games against the Brewers, starting four of them, but hasn’t faced them since 2016. Ryan Braun is 2-for-10 (.200) against him.
Konu Seçenekleri
