Series Preview: Bucs at Rox

Having just dropped two of three against the Philadelphia Phillies, the Pirates travel to Colorado for a four-game series to take on the fellow cellar-dwelling Rockies.

Colorado is mired in a stretch where they’ve lost eight of their last ten while Pittsburgh has drawn even at 5-5. Both teams sit quite a distance back in their respective divisions— the Pirates 17.5 and the Rockies 28.5.

Given the stigma of Coors Field, we could be in for some high-scoring affairs depending on how well the pitching staffs are able to control the bats during this series. The Rockies are the fourth-highest scoring team in the National League but give up, by far, the most runs. Only the Baltimore Orioles give up more runs league-wide.

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Schedule

Thursday, 8:40 p.m. - Trevor Williams (6-6, 5.35 ERA) vs Chi Chi Gonzalez (0-5, 6.43 ERA)

Friday, 8:40 p.m. - Dario Agrazal (3-3, 4.41 ERA) vs Antonio Senzatela (8-8, 6.75 ERA)

Saturday, 8:10 p.m. - Joe Musgrove (8-12, 4.67 ERA) vs Tim Melville (1-0, 0.75 ERA)

Sunday, 3:10 p.m. - Steven Brault (3-3, 4.06 ERA) vs TBD

All games are televised on AT&T SportsNet-PIT.

Rockies Notes

Offense

-Nolan Arenado is hot right now, hitting .395 with four home runs and nine RBIs in his last nine games. His wRC+ of 196 has been the best on the team by a large margin

-Trevor Story has also been pretty productive through his last 42 plate appearances with a .347 wOBA helped by his .467 BABIP.

Pitching

-Gonzalez opens the series for the Rockies and has allowed at least two earned runs in each of his seven starts this season. His last start against the Cardinals in St. Louis saw him walk six batters with just two strikeouts in 5.1 innings. He gave up five earned runs on just three hits.

-Senzatela’s last two starts, both on the road against the Cardinals and Yankees, were disasters. He went a combined four innings and gave up 12 earned runs on 12 hits. Senzatela’s last quality start was back on June 23rd against the Dodgers where he threw 6.1 innings and allowed two earned runs on five hits and one walk.

-Melville is making just his third start in 2019. He’s pitched 12 innings and surrendered one earned run on seven hits. He has a 2-1 K/BB rate in those starts. The only run Melville has allowed this season was a home run against the Diamondbacks in Arizona.

First pitch is at 8:40 EST at Coors Field.