The Pirates’ April was pretty up-and-down, but 12-10 isn’t a bad month (it is, in fact, much better than their last April). They’ll have to play better than that at some point, though, and a weekend series against the Cardinals seems like a good place to start. The Cubs looked pretty good against the Pirates in April, but the Cardinals remain the NL Central measuring stick. How many other teams get to complain about starting pitching depth, but also start Lance Lynn, John Lackey, and Michael Wacha in a three-game series? Only the Cardinals get away with that. The road to the NL Central runs through St. Louis.
Last year, the Pirates were 8-11 against the Cardinals. They lost six of those games by one run (two of those were walkoffs), and another one on a walkoff two-run home run. The Pirates lost the NL Central by two games last year. There are plenty of things that happen in a 162-game season to separate two teams out from each other, but when the 2014 season ended the very top of my “Reasons the Pirates didn’t win the division this year” list was “INFURIATING LOSSES TO THE CARDINALS.” Which is to say that I’m not wholly pleased with the Pirates’ ugly start on offense and there are a few concern points with this team that have popped up in April that weren’t on the radar when the season began, but all of it will seem much better with two wins in St. Louis this weekend.
AJ Burnett starts against the Cardinals. We will not speak of what happened the last time he pitched against the Cardinals wearing a black and gold uniform. He’ll look to continue his hot start to 2015, though I’m a little concerned with how his strikeouts have tailed in his last couple starts. It’s worth keeping an eye on, at least. Lance Lynn starts for the Cardinals. He’s developed into a heck of a starting pitcher over the last couple of years, though you’d never know it from the way he tends to pitch against the Pirates. Lynn got off to a great start this year, but he walked four hitters in his next to last start, and he got hit hard by the Brewers in his latest start. Of course, he does tend to strike out a ton of hitters and the Pirates do tend to strike out a lot, so maybe this is the night the table flips between the Pirates and Lynn. I sure hope not, though.
First pitch is at 8:15. I do believe the Pirates owe AJ Burnett some run support.
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