Series Preview: Pirates (18-23) at Brewers (24-16)

5-13-24 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on X

The Brewers are leading the NL Central by a half game over the Chicago Cubs who just took 2 of 3 from the Pirates at PNC Park. The Crew is coming off taking 3 of 4 from the Cardinals. The Brewers have hit and pitched well most of the season, the Pirates are coming out of an epic hitting slump and it’s timed up with some less than stellar performances from the Bucco Bullpen to support the efforts.

No bones about it, this is a tough series, and the Brewers are flying on all cylinders.

5-12
Brewers – Colin Rea (R) – 3-0, 38.1 IP, 3.29 ERA, 25 Ks/12 walks, 1.28 WHIP
Pirates – Mitch Keller (R) – 3-3, 49 IP, 4.41 ERA, 44 Ks/16 walks, 1.48 WHIP

5-13
Brewers – Joe Ross (R) – 1-4, 36 IP, 4.75 ERA, 29 Ks/14 walks, 1.47 WHIP
Pirates – Quinn Priester (R) – 0-3, 21 IP, 3.86 ERA, 12 Ks/8 walks, 1.43 WHIP

5/14
Brewers – Robert Gasser (L) – 1-0, 6 IP, 0.00 ERA, 4 Ks/0 walks, 0.33 WHIP
Pirates – Martin Perez (L) 1-2, 45 IP, 3.60 ERA, 36 Ks/13 walks, 1.40 WHIP

Brewers:
To sell William Contreras as some hot streak isn’t fair, he’s been incredible all season long. A true emerging star in this league. Last 7 games, .400 average, .526 OBP, .560 SLG. Last 15 .327/.415/.455, he’s really just not to be trifled with. He doesn’t even do you the favor of being slow like a catcher usually is.

Pirates:
Oneil Cruz has been on a tear. In his past 7 games he’s hit .385 with 3 homeruns and an .846 SLG. Lefty’s or righties he’s had success and he’s not striking out anywhere close to his early season clip. It’s not just a small sample thing either, in his past 15 he’s hitting .320. There’s a lot to worry about with this offense, but Oneil Cruz hitting cures a lot of things that are sick.

Brewers:
I’m going to go with Sal Frelick, in his last 15 games he’s been given 48 at bats and hit .167, on base at a .245 clip. They have options but with Jackson Chourio off to a slow start in his rookie campaign, it’s hard to just sit him.

Pirates:
Some of the bats are coming to life, but Jack Suwinski isn’t, nor is he really getting opportunity to do so. In the past 15 games he’s only gotten 32 at bats, hitting .156, On base of .250 and a slug of .188. If the Pirates are going to keep using him like this, they really should send him to AAA. They need his power, but he needs at bats to provide it. It’s hard to play a struggling hitter, especially when you have a bunch of them, but in this case it’s really try or don’t. He’ll never do anything if he doesn’t play.

Key Injuries

Ke’Bryan Hayes is hurt with a lower back again. It’s becoming the Haley’s Comet of every season. Hopefully it’s quick and thankfully they have Jared Triolo for the defense but the swap of bats is not as rosy even if Hayes was struggling recently.

What To Watch

The Pirates can hang with these division leaders because honestly, there isn’t a perfect team here. They can pitch with anyone, and more and more, it’s looking like that needs to happen if they’re going to get back into this thing. They need a run of shut down pitching so this offense can put up 3-4 runs and win games. It’s not a fair expectation, but it is how this team needs to win until they start showing they can outscore opponents. This is not the best 3 pitchers the Pirates could be facing going against Milwaukee, they need to take advantage of that while only throwing one of their own.

Score 4 runs per game, probably win the series. That’s going to be the battle cry for a minute here.