Series Preview: Bucs Host Reds - The Last Stand

The Pittsburgh Pirates get to stay home in PNC Park after an entertaining sweep and playoff elimination of the Chicago Cubs earlier this week. They welcome another divsion foe in the Cincinnati Reds for their final three games of the season. Another sweep would put them at 71-91, and that hardly begins to depict the crazy, roller-coaster season that the Bucs put fans through this year.

The Reds come to town with 73 wins on the season having made some interesting moves along the way, most notably departing with Yasiel Puig and acquiring Trevor Bauer, who the Bucs will see in the final game of the year on Sunday.

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SCHEDULE

Friday, 7:05 p.m. - Steven Brault (4-6, 5.07) vs Anthony DeSclafani (9-9, 3.84)

Saturday, 7:10 p.m. - James Marvel (0-3, 10.22) vs TBD

Sunday, 2:10 p.m. - Trevor Williams (7-8, 5.52) vs Trevor Bauer (11-13, 4.48)

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NOTES

The Reds are led by power-hitting third baseman Eugenio Suarez, who sits one homer shy of the 50 mark. He also has 103 RBI on the year. Shortstop Jose Iglesias leads them in batting average at .284, and youngster Aristides Aquino was a welcomed find, as his power binge shortly after his call-up gives him 18 homers in 53 games with the big leage club.

The Saturday starter for Cincy is still up in the air, but the Pirates will face Anthony Desclafani on Friday night and Trevor Bauer on Sunday afternoon. The righty Desclafani’s last four starts in September have been awesome. He holds a 2.77 ERA with a crazy-low 0.62 WHIP for the month. He’ll look to extend his streak of six straight games with six or more innings pitched and end the season in impressive fashion. Bauer has a great WHIP in the month of September too, sitting at 0.95. However, six homers in four starts puts him at a pedestrian 4.10 ERA in that span. He twirled a eight-inning, one run outing in Arizona two starts ago, and he’ll look to replicate that to end his year on a high note.