6-23-24 – By Michael Castrignano – @412DoublePlay on X
Deciding game of the Rays series will come down to Paul Skenes against Aaron Civale, a trade acquisition by Tampa from the Cleveland Guardians last year, who enters with a 5.42 ERA, 1.39 WHIP and 14 home runs allowed in just 76.1 innings pitched. Overall, he’s been a bit disappointing for the Rays, combining for a 4-8 record and 5.40 ERA in his 25 games since the trade.
Civale has a wide arsenal of pitches: high-80s cutter, low-90s sinker, low-80s sweeper, high-70s curve and a low-90s 4-seam – all of which are thrown 10% or more of the time. None of the offerings have produced particularly strong results with his sweeper being the only plus pitch for the veteran righty.
Similar to Zach Eflin, Civale works in the zone, issuing walks at a 6.6% clip. His strikeout numbers aren’t great though as he only Ks 23.6% of opponents as he struggles to avoid bats (23% whiff rate) and gives up hard contact (90.4 MPH average exit velocity.
Civale hasn’t gone beyond six innings in any of his starts this season and has allowed 4 earned runs in two of his last three games. He has posted poor home/away splits (4.40 ERA/43 innings at home compared to 6.75 ERA/33.1 innings away) and hasn’t recorded a win in over two months.
This is a struggling starting pitcher against whom the Pirates should be able to do damage. Get on the board early and keep the foot on the gas to secure the first series win over the Rays in seven years!
Let’s Go Bucs!
Steel City Pirates 
Well said, all signs point to rocking this guy, including the regularly punished four-seamer. So in typical Pirates fashion, I partly expect they’ll make him look his best for the year. Just six reaches of base yesterday! Whom can I count on, other than Reynolds? With Bart on the mend and Gonzales scuffling, literally nobody else can I reasonably expect will get one hit in four at-bats!
Anyway, thanks as ever for these looks at SPs, good information to understand whom they are up against.
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Sometimes I hate being right
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