The Pittsburgh Pirates are looking to earn their Major League-leading 14th sweep of the season this afternoon when they play against the Colorado Rockies.
In the two previous contests, the Pirates emerged victorious by 5-3 and 4-3 scores respectively. Today, Charlie Morton will face Jorge De La Rosa.
Morton is 5-1 at PNC Park with a 2.82 ERA and the Pirates have posted a 12-5 record in Morton’s 17 starts this season. In his last start, Morton lost his first decision in over a month, allowing five runs [four earned] on eight hits in 5.1 innings of work against the Miami Marlins. Morton is 2-1 with a 3.62 ERA in six career starts against the Rockies.
De La Rosa is 4-3 with a 3.75 ERA in 14 career appearances [10 starts] against the Pirates. In his last start De La Rosa lost a road contest to the Atlanta Braves allowing five runs on nine hits in seven innings of work.
Seventh inning stretch: As first reported by PSN, the postponed Pirates-Chicago Cubs game from Aug. 3 will be made up as part of a day-night doubleheader on Sept. 15, making that series a four-game series.
The experience will be nothing new for manager Clint Hurdle.
“We get three or four of them a year in Colorado,” Hurdle said. “Actually did one in LA which happens as much as Haley’s comet comes around. I’ve got a lot of experience with them, not recently though.”
Managing Joakim Soria’s workload as a Pirate has been a challenge for Hurdle.
Thus far in his brief Pirates career, Soria has made 14 appearances since being acquired on July 30 from the Detroit Tigers. He currently has no record, one save, five holds and a 2.19 ERA as a Pirate.
“The leverage indexes will show he was used harder there than here: frequently, but more importantly harder,” said Hurdle. “We’ve tried to use him smart here. There’s no injury issue and no health issue whatsoever.”
Bottom of the ninth: Hurdle revealed that following Monday’s day off, that his rotation for the road series against the Milwaukee Brewers will be Gerrit Cole, Jeff Locke and Francisco Liriano. In the Cardinals series, J.A. Happ, Charlie Morton and Cole will throw.
We’ve got some plans in place and some plans moving forward,” Hurdle said.
The Pirates are 15-1 this season in day games played at PNC Park and are a Major League best 29-15 in one-run games this season… A victory this afternoon would give the Pirates 80 wins prior to September 1 for the first time since 1971 when the team was 81-56 after August play. A win also would give the Pirates 20 wins in a month for the first time since posting a 21-8 record in Sept. 1992… Andrew McCutchen stole his 150th career base Friday night and is two home runs shy of becoming the second player to hit at least 150 homers and steal 150 bases or more. Barry Bonds was the other.
Photo credit: Getty Images
