5-30-2025 – By Josh Poe – @DaRealHanYolo on X
The Pirates travel to San Diego this weekend to take on the Padres. The Padres have been on an interesting run as of late. They are winners of 4 out of their last 6. Pretty good, right? However, they lost all of the previous 6 games to this little hot streak. So in their last 12 games, they are 4 – 8. Also, in these previous 12 games, they have only given up fewer than 3 runs twice. So, teams have been able to score off of them. On the other hand, their offense has not been as dominant as you would think, with them scoring 3.08 runs in those 12 games. So, it should be interesting to see what version of the Padres we will get this time.
The Pirates are coming off one of, if not their most, exciting series victories of the year, with the 7-run inning on Tuesday and the 10-run attack on Wednesday behind a dominant start by Skenes. This week for the Bucs has looked, dare I say, decent, with them being 6-4 in their last 10 games. And it seems as if they are finally getting the monkey off their back, which was scoring more than 4 runs in a game. They have scored more than 4 runs in 5 of their last 7 games. This could be a blip, but the offense overall has looked better as of late. Especially as June is just around the corner, Reynolds (who consistently does well in June), joining MVP Cruz, there may be something here. (fingers crossed).
5/30
Pirates: Mitch Keller 1-6, 3.66 ERA, 64.0 IP, 55 K, 17 BB, 1.30 WHIP
Padres: Nick Pivetta 5-2, 2.72 ERA, 56.1 IP, 63 K, 18 BB, 1.01 WHIP
5/31
Pirates: Bailey Falter 3-3, 3.47 ERA, 59.2 IP, 40 K, 21 BB, 1.14 WHIP
Padres: Dylan Cease 1-3, 4.58 ERA, 59.0 IP, 72 K, 20 BB, 1.25 WHIP
6/1
Pirates: Andrew Heaney 3-4, 3.41 ERA, 60.2 IP, 44 K, 24 BB, 1.22 WHIP
Padres: Randy Vasquez 3-4, 3.58 ERA, 55.1 IP, 32 K, 27 BB, 1.39 WHIP
Pirates: Henry Davis – You heard that right. Henry Davis has been hot of late. In his last seven games, he is hitting .400 with an OPS of 1.078. His defense has been excellent, too, with two caught stealing recently. He has adjusted his stance slightly, which seems to have paid off. Is this him breaking out? Here’s hoping, because a good Davis would be a massive boost to this team.
Padres: Gavin Sheets – Sheets has been red hot over the past seven games. He is batting .276 in that stretch with 5 HRs and 11 RBIs. And in a lineup featuring Machado and Tatis, getting that kind of production out of Sheets is unfair to opposing pitchers.
Pirates: Ke’Bryan Hayes – Ke is 4 for his last 34, which results in a .117 average. Despite the rest of the lineup starting to click, Hayes has kept to his non-hitting ways. A quick check of his BaseballSavant page doesn’t make you feel any better, as the only thing positive about his plate appearances is that he is squaring balls up. So, if there is a silver lining, there is that.
Padres: Fernando Tatis Jr. – El Niño has cooled off in May after his amazing start to the season. He is batting .188 with 25 Ks and an OPS of .642. His power is still there, but he is getting fooled a lot more than usual right now, so hopefully, that can continue against the Bucs.
Pirates: Joey Bart, Johan Oviedo, Nick Gonzales, Colin Holderman, Hunter Barco, Justin Lawrence, Jared Jones, Enmanuel Valdez, Dauri Moreta, Tim Mayza
Padres: Bryan Hoeing, Matt Waldron, Yu Darvish, Michael King, Jason Heyward, Mason McCoy, Joe Musgrove, Ethan Salas, Jhony Brito, Luis Patino, Logan Gillaspie
Notes
- Oneil Cruz leads the NL in stolen bases. I’d like to see him use his speed now that Reynolds is in prime form.
- This series includes a Padres staff having difficulty containing runs and a Pirates team scoring better recently. Will these trends continue? I hope they do.
- Keep an eye out for some news about Nick Gonzales this weekend.
Steel City Pirates 