8-24-24 – By Michael Castrignano – @412DoublePlay on X
UPDATE: Starting pitcher changed to Nick Martinez – who enters today with a 6-6 record and 3.64 ERA through 101.1 innings this season. He started the year in the rotation but pitched relief from May through July before returning to starting this month. He has a 2.72 ERA away from Great American Ball Park.
He avoids the barrel, limits walks and keeps the ball in the park (when he isn’t pitching in GABP, at least). Look for elevated cutters and hanging curveballs to attack. Enjoy reading about the not-starter for today!
Offense sputtered during last night’s game but will look to win the rubber match against Carson Spiers, whom the Bucs faced in back-to-back starts in June with each team winning one.
Spiers tallied nearly identical stat lines for each of those game,going six frames each time with 7 hits, 1 walk and 5 strikeouts but he allowed 4 runs the first time and limited it to 3 runs the second time around.
The rookie righty has struggled of late, posting a 14.25 ERA over his last 3 appearances (2 starts) while allowing 19 earned runs over just 12 innings pitched.
Five pitch mix: low-90s fastball, high-80s cutter, low-90s sinker, high-80s changeup and a low-80s sweeper
He doesn’t walk a lot of batters (5.5%) but doesn’t miss bats very often so Bucs have to be ready to hit. The sweeper has been effective for him with a 33.9% whiff rate but has been hit well when hitters do connect.
Spiers has some glaring splits for both home/away (3.77 ERA at home vs. 8.51 ERA away) and day/night games (2.18 ERA during day games against 6.80 ERA at night). That will come to a head in today’s matchup.
Let’s Go Bucs!
Steel City Pirates 
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