Game Thread: Pirates and Phillies at Citizens Bank Park

The Pittsburgh Pirates look to take game two of a three game series in Philadelphia on Tuesday night. First pitch is slated for 7:05 pm Eastern, and two southpaws will face off against one another. Steven Brault (3-3, 3.98) will look to keep his strong second half alive as he matches up against Drew Smyly (2-6, 2.99) who faces the Pirates for the second time this season.

The last time Smyly saw the Bucs, he was making his season debut after coming over from Texas, and he threw six innings of one-run ball while collecting eight strikeouts. The curveball specialist followed that up with another great start against the Giants, but his August has been pitiful. In four starts this month, Smyly has allowed 16 earned runs over 19.1 innings pitched.

Meanwhile, Brault has all but made a case to remain in the Pirates starting rotation next season, especially with Jameson Taillon already ruled out for the year. Despite a rough two-run first inning last time out against the Nationals, Squid battled back and threw five shutout innings to collect a quality start. His ERA is just 3.52 in the month of August with a flat 1.00 WHIP. He’ll look to get his breaking ball going again in this one, as strikeouts will surely be key in keeping the Phils off the scoreboard.

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PIRATES

1 R Kevin Newman SS

2 S Bryan Reynolds LF

3 R Starling Marte CF

4 S Josh Bell 1B

5 R Jose Osuna RF

6 L Colin Moran 3B

7 R Elias Diaz C

8 L Adam Frazier 2B

9 L Steven Brault LHP

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Phillies

1 R Rhys Hoskins 1B

2 R J.T. Realmuto C

3 L Bryce Harper RF

4 R Jean Segura SS

5 L Corey Dickerson LF

6 S Cesar Hernandez 2B

7 R Sean Rodriguez 3B

8 L Adam Haseley CF

9 L Drew Smyly LHP