4-19-2025 – By Michael Castrignano – @412DoublePlay on X
Pirates turned in a too-little, too-late offensive outburst last night but will try to get more done against the starting pitcher today as Paul Skenes will look to oppose visiting veteran righty, Ben Lively.
Now in his second season with Cleveland, Lively is coming off a career-best year as he went 13-10 with a 3.81 ERA over 151 innings in 2024.
A bit of a journeyman, Lively has played parts of eight seasons between playing in the KBO, Cleveland, Kansas City, Philadelphia and Cincinnati – who selected him out of the University of Central Florida in the 4th round of the 2013 Draft before trading him to the Phillies in 2014 for Marlon Byrd.
Lively enters play today with a 4.87 ERA over his first 4 starts, compiling 16 strikeouts to 7 walks in his 20.1 innings pitched.
He doesn’t do anything particularly well with only an above-average extension, which allows his stuff to play up against opposing hitters, especially given his rather diverse arsenal.
His pitch mix includes 7 different offerings: a 4-seamer and sinker (each averaging 89-90), a cutter, changeup and slider (low-80s) and each a sweeper and curve (around 77-78).
Lively leans mostly on the fastballs and sweeper but mixes in the cutter/slider up and in against righties, pivoting to the curve/changeup down and in against lefties.
Given his eclectic pitch mix, it will take more than eliminating a pitch or two for Bucs bats to be effective. They will need to key in on specific offerings and wait to attack them.
Lefties in particular have been a problem for Lively’s secondaries, batting .500 against the changeup and .571 versus his curve.
For right handed hitters, his sinker can often hang over the plate with similar spin to his fastball. Opposing batters have 7 hits in 25 at-bats against the offering, allowing pull-happy hitters to drive balls down the left field line.
Another thing to keep in mind: Lively has been ELITE first time through the lineup before falling apart after that. That’s not to say that Pirates hitters can’t get hits against him but that they might want to be more wary of his offerings to exploit them in subsequent trips to the plate.
It’s a different kind of challenge opposing the Bucs today but not one that they can’t overcome and, with these strategies, they should be able to break through against the Guardians starter.
Steel City Pirates 