4-14-2025 – By Michael Castrignano – @412DoublePlay on X
Heading back home after the road series in Cincinnati, the Pirates welcome a third straight sub-.500 team with hopes to jump start the offense.
The Nationals are coming off dropping a series on the road to the Miami Marlins but had won series against each the Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks before that and have scored 4+ runs in each of their last 9 games.
Comparatively, the Pirates haven’t scored more than 4 runs outside of an extra innings win last week and have relied on a revamped bullpen and solid starting pitching to keep them in the few games they’ve won.
4/14
Nationals: Brad Lord (R) 5 IP, 0-0, 1.80 ERA, 1.80 WHIP, 4 K, 4 BB
Pirates: Paul Skenes (R) 18.1 IP, 1-1, 3.44 ERA, 0.82 WHIP, 20 K, 3 BB
4/15
Nationals: Jake Irvin (R) 16 IP, 0-0, 5.63 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 12 K, 6 BB
Pirates: Mitch Keller (R) 17 IP, 0-1, 4.24 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, 14 K, 6 BB
4/16
Nationals: Mitchell Parker (L) 18.1 IP, 2-0, 1.96 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 10 K, 8 BB
Pirates: Bailey Falter (L) 15 IP, 0-2, 7.20 ERA, 1.53 WHIP, 13 K, 6 BB
4/17
Nationals: Trevor Williams (R) 14.2 IP, 1-1, 7.36 ERA, 1.77 WHIP, 11 K, 3 BB
Pirates: Andrew Heaney (L) 18 IP, 0-1, 3.00 ERA, 0.89 WHIP, 18 K, 4 BB
Nationals: James Wood – Wood has firmly established himself as a potential National League MVP candidate. His .977 OPS ranks 9th among all qualified position players in the Senior Circuit and tied for 4th with 5 home runs heading into this series.
Pirates: Bryan Reynolds (I guess?) – Reynolds hasn’t been able to play in the outfield due to his lingering triceps soreness but he’s starting to get the bat going a bit lately. He is currently running an 8 game on-base streak and recorded a hit in each game of the series in Cincinnati, including a double in the first inning yesterday. If he can get hot and get a few more extra base hits in there, that would go a long way to giving this team chances to score runs.
Nationals: Dylan Crews – Unlike his rookie outfield counterpart or his college teammate opposing drafted ahead of him two years ago, Crews has struggled to find success in MLB. He is currently batting .116 with zero extra base hits and 17 strikeouts to just 2 walks.
Pirates: Basically The Entire Offense – Take your pick. No one on the offense has been looking good and while the Reds have solid pitching that can make anyone look terrible, the lackluster hitting for this Pirates squad has been extremely disheartening as they rank last in MLB for batting average (.184), slugging percentage (.290) and OPS (.562) while ranking 28th in runs scored (50), 27th in on-base percentage (.273) with the 4th worst strikeout rate (25.3%).
Nationals: CJ Abrams (Right Hip Flexor Strain) – Abrams had a .874 OPS through his first 11 games prior to hitting the IL as he is continuing to surge as one of the best young shortstops in MLB but the hip issue has been a recurring issue that the team hopes to heal up with this time off his feet.
Pirates: Joey Bart (Lower Back Discomfort) – Although he hasn’t officially landed on the Injured List, Bart has sat out the past two games with back soreness after leaving the Friday outing against the Reds. Given that his .275 batting average, .370 OBP and .795 OPS all lead active Pirates players, the team hopes they are getting him back in that lineup sooner than later.
Notes
- The Pirates bullpen has been shutdown over the past week, pitching a total of 17.1 innings and allowing just 1 earned run in that time. The 0.52 ERA since April 8th ranks best in MLB over that stretch.
- Over the past week only the red hot Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers (both 39) have scored more runs than the Nationals (36), who led all of MLB with a 14.2% walk rate in that stretch. On the season, the team is slashing .239/.321/.404 as they have quietly become one of the better offenses in the National League.
Steel City Pirates 