Last night was a pretty disappointing game for the Pirates. Brad Lincoln got hit pretty badly and Wei-Yin Chen shut the offense down until it was too late and as a result, the Pirates fell behind early and then wasted a rare six-spot in a loss. Tonight they try to stop their losing streak before it even starts, though the Orioles’ lineup facing Kevin Correia is something that has me a little bit worried tonight.
The good news for the Pirates is that Brian Matusz has been scratched after bunting a ball off of his face (seriously) and the O’s will instead send Jake Arrieta out to the mound. Arrieta’s been pretty bad this year; his strikeout rate looks nice but he’s given up a ton of home runs (11 in 74 innings) and a ton of hits and as a result, allowed more earned runs than anyone in the AL. The high strikeout rate gives me some pause — these are the sorts of pitchers that manage to magically “find” themselves against the Pirates, it seems — but the Bucs have been pounding the ball pretty well of late and so hopefully they’ll put some balls into the seats to balance out however many guys Arrieta manages to strike out tonight.
The first pitch tonight is at 7:05. I’m once again stuck in blackout hell.
