Series Preview: Pirates (4-0) at Nationals (1-2)

4-1-24 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on X

The Bucs are riding high off an opening series 4 game sweep of the Miami Marlins, their first since 1903, and the Nats enter Monday’s contest following a series loss to the Reds. The Nationals aren’t a playoff team this year, but they do pack a punch, scoring runs in bunches at times and some promising arms. The young Pirates would do well to not overlook this team on the way to their own home opener this Friday. This team has talent, but not enough to feel any team is less capable than they are.

4/1
Nationals – MacKenzie Gore (L/L) – (2023) 7-10, 136.1 IP, 4.42 ERA, 151 Ks/57 walks, 1.471 WHIP
Pirates – Marco Gonzales (L/L) – (2023) 4-1, 50 IP, 5.22 ERA, 34 Ks/18 walks, 1.460 WHIP

4/3
Nationals – Trevor Williams (R/R) – (2023) 6-10, 144.1 IP, 5.55 ERA, 111 Ks/53 walks, 1.600 WHIP
Pirates – Mitch Keller (R/R) – 0-0, 5.2 IP, 6.35 ERA, 3 Ks/2 walks, 1.588 WHIP

4/4
Nationals – Josiah Gray (R/R) – 0-1, 4 IP, 15.75 ERA, 6 Ks/2 walks, 2.500 WHIP
Pirates – Martín Pérez (L/L) – 0-0, 4.1 IP, 2.08 ERA, 2 Ks/3 walks, 2.077 WHIP

Nationals:
Joey Meneses – Hot start for Joey, in 12 at bats he’s hit .417 with an OPS of .929. There are others, but I highlight Meneses specifically because he had sustained productivity throughout their entire first series.

Pirates:
Ke’Bryan Hayes – Hey, far be it from me to change this entry, if Ke’ wants to own the who’s hot title all season long, so be it. He’s had multiple hits in every game he’s played this season, good enough for a .444 Batting Average and a 1.078 OPS. I mean, it’s hard to get hotter than that, but the Pirates do have some other candidates.

Nationals:
Josiah Gray – Look, it was just one bad outing, but it’s hard to overlook how bad it was. 4 IP, 15.75 ERA, 6 Ks/2 walks, 2.500 WHIP, opposing hitters are crushing him for a .400 average and he is looked to as arguably the best of what they have to put forward this season as it comes to starting pitching.

Pirates:
Andrew McCutchen – There’s nothing to worry about here and Jack Suwinski probably isn’t far behind on this list. Cutch has no hits, 2 walks and 5 K’s. This just isn’t Cutch like, and honestly, he hasn’t quite looked right all Spring. Perhaps that’s because he was still rehabbing, or maybe being pulled away for paternity leave, but either way, I suspect he’ll get it turned around yet. Only playing 2 games against 4 left handed starters should probably tell you Derek Shelton isn’t seeing what he wants to see either.

Key Injuries

Nationals:
The Nationals just lost Nick Senzel to a fractured thumb, a costly loss of a really nice piece on a young team.

Pirates:
Carmen Mlodzinski (forearm), Colin Holderman (illness) – Colin Holderman has begun his rehab assignment in Indianapolis. Ji-Hwan Bae has also been sent on his rehab assignment to Indianapolis.

Who To Watch

Nationals:
Eddie Rosario – Eddie is an older player now and the Nationals have decided to deploy him in CF, a position he has long since stopped playing. He’s a good fielder, but I’m interested to see how he looks out there.

Pirates:
The Lefties: After Monday’s matchup against Gore, the Pirates will finally get a shot to see a couple righties to open games. The Pirates have some guys who are probably very excited for Wednesday.