Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Chad Kuhl (3-7) faces off against San Diego pitcher Travis Wood (1-3). Kuhl has a 4.92 ERA, while Wood has a 6.91 ERA, but Kuhl has had less than a 3.50 in his last 4 starts and Wood has had over a 7 ERA in his last 4 starts. In fact, Before his last start, Kuhl hadn't lost a game since June 14 (6 starts ago).
If the Padres take just one win from the Pirates, they will have their first season over a .500 win percentage this season, as they only got 11 wins in April, May, and June. They have 12 this month of July and need just one more. Pittsburgh came into this series having not lost in at&t since 2014, but after getting crushed 2 out of 3 games, will they be able to bounce back? The Pirates play San Diego next for a 3-game series, who has a 44-57 record. Their lineup is inconsistent, which is why they are 4th in the AL West with a .436 win percentage. The Pirates will be able to bounce back from tough losses in the giants series and regain control in their conference. They are still only 4.5 games behind the division leading Cubs, and are fighting through injuries for that spot.
Yesterday, Jordy Mercer and Andrew McCutchen both hit 3 run home runs to help the pirates. Mercer went 3-5 with 3 RBI's and 2 runs. Josh Bell also went 3-5 and racked up 1 RBI and 1 run. In all, the Bucs got 14 hits, 2 home runs, 3 doubles, and a stolen base to get an easy win over the giants. Gerrit Cole took the win, his eighth, and gave up 2 runs. Today, pitcher Jameson Taillon (6-3) goes up against Madison Bumgarner (0-2) to try to keep up their win streak in AT&T park that extends back to 2014.
With Polanco on the DL the Pirates have gone 0 and 2. So, with Polanco gone, will they drop in the playoff spot drastically? That's what most people have been thinking, but is it true? No. They will lose maybe 1 or 2 more than they win but they will be okay in playoff selection. Then, they can get right back at it in the playoffs.
After a 4-game sweep over the Brewers, the Pirates (48-48) are only 3.0 games behind claiming the lead in the NL Central. They are one of the hottest teams in baseball currently, reaching their season high 5 game win streak. They are 11-2 in their last 13 and have gone 11-5 in June. In sweeping the brewers, they have reached a crucial milestone; a .500 winning percentage. The last time they were at this point was 2 games before Starling Marte's 80 game suspension. Now that the Bucs are only 2 games behind the Cubs and 3 games behind the Brewers, they are in an unexpected spot set for victory.
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