Series Preview: Brewers (14-8) at Pirates (11-11)

4-22-24 – By Ethan Smith – @mvp_EtHaN

Well folks, it’s time for the Pittsburgh Pirates to take on their first NL Central foe of the 2024 season, as the Milwaukee Brewers make their way to PNC Park for a four game set.

For the Pirates, they enter this series on a six-game losing streak, losing to the New York Mets and Boston Red Sox last week, both sweeps.

The Brewers meanwhile enter on a completely different tangent, winning four consecutive games and six of their last nine.

These two teams are practically night and day right now, especially offensively, as the Brewers enter the series with the second best OPS in baseball at a .789 clip, while the Pirates offense, which has gone ice cold like your favorite summer cocktail, rank 20th in the league in OPS at .675.

The Brewers also strike out considerably less than the Pirates, as the Pirates currently sit at 215 strikeouts, which is sixth in baseball, while the Brewers sit at 17th with 180 punch outs.

Stolen bases have also been a factor for the Brew Crew this season, ranking third in all of baseball with successful stolen bases with 27, while the Pirates, who haven’t tempted fate much on the base path this season, sit 22nd with 11.

As for pitching, Milwaukee’s staff took a massive hit in the off-season in losing Corbin Burnes to the Baltimore Orioles, but its been a group overall thats done well, ranking ninth in ERA with a 3.52. It’s a staff now headlined by Freddy Peralta, who has a 1.90 ERA entering this series.

Each team’s pitching staffs actually have the exact same WHIP(1.23) entering this series, so we could be in store for yet another low scoring affair for the Pirates, as the offense’s of these teams combined for 45 runs in 14 games, or 3.2 runs per game between both squads over the past seven days.

The Brewers won the season series in 2023, going 8-5 against the Buccos, so we’ll see if the Pirates can turn the tide, beginning Monday at PNC Park.

4/19
Pirates – Jared Jones(RHP) – 1-2, 23.0 IP, 3.13 era, 32 Ks/2 walks, 0.78 WHIP
Brewers –Joe Ross(RHP) – 1-1, 14.2 IP, 4.91 ERA, 14 Ks/8 walks, 1.64 WHIP

4/20
Pirates – Bailey Falter(LHP)– 1-1, 20.0 IP, 4.05 ERA, 10 Ks/5 walks, 0.95 WHIP
Brewers– Wade Miley(LHP) – 0-1, 7.0 IP, 5.14 ERA, 2 Ks/4 walks, 1.29 WHIP

4/21
Pirates – Quinn Priester(RHP) – 0-1, 4.1 IP, 8.31 ERA, 2 Ks/1 walk, 1.85 WHIP
Brewers– TBD

4/25

Pirates – Mitch Keller(RHP)- 2-2, 30.0 IP, 4.80 ERA, 25 Ks/11 walks, 1.47 WHIP

Brewers – TBD

Brewers:
William Contreras – Over his past seven, William Contreras has hit the ball well with a .861 OPS and 6 RBIs, continuing his hot start to the 2024 season that has seen him hit four homers, score 20 and have an OPS of .987 over 82 ABs.

Pirates:
Connor Joe – It is hard to find anyone in the offense who’s done well over the past seven days, but Connor Joe has remained a steady option in the Pirates lineup when needed, as his slugging sits at a .435 over his last seven games, including a pinch hit home run in Saturday’s loss to the Boston Red Sox.

Brewers:
Rhys Hoskins – Hoskins was a marquee pickup for the Brewers this off-season, but the past seven games haven’t been kind to the former Phillies first baseman, hitting only .154 in 26 ABs with eight strikeouts, so the Brewers hope they can get more of the power production they expected from Hoskins, who currently has four homers on the season.

Pirates:
The entire offense – In the last preview piece I did, which was for the Red Sox series, I said the entire offense was cold, and well, that hasn’t changed. The Pirates mustered four runs in the series versus Boston and the offense continued to look flat out lost at the plate. The Brewers pitching may not be what the Red Sox currently have right now, but its no joke, so things aren’t getting any easier for the lineup over the next four days.

Key Injuries

Brewers:

D.L. Hall – 15-day IL: knee, Christian Yelich – 10-day IL: back, J.B. Bukauskas – 15-day IL: lat, Taylor Clarke – 15-day IL: meniscus, Jakob Junis – 15-day IL: shoulder

60-day IL: Garrett Mitchell, Devin Williams, Brandon Woodruff

Pirates:
Marco Gonzales – 15-day IL: forearm, Ryan Borucki – 15-day IL: left triceps inflammation, Jason Delay: 10-day IL: knee, Yasmani Grandal: rehab assignment: foot

60-day IL: Dauri Moreta, Endy Rodriguez, Johan Oviedo

Who To Watch

This series, and any series versus an NL Central foe, are always unpredictable, seeing as the teams in the division are so close together. Currently, the Brewers are playing much better baseball than the Pirates, but the run production hasn’t been there for the Brewers either outside of a strong Saturday showing against the Cardinals. Whichever team gets an early lead will likely win the series here, seeing as both offenses have had their struggles and both pitching staffs have been relatively strong. Expect another low scoring series, but runs will have to come at a premium, and at some point, the Pirates offense has to wake up.