The Pittsburgh Pirates hope to earn a series win this afternoon against the New York Mets. The Pirates won a 4-1 contest last night to take game one of the series.
Today’s starters:
Pirates manager Clint Hurdle offered this assessment of today’s pitching battle: “You’ve got the young pitcher that’s really special and you have the old experienced veteran.”
The Pirates will send A.J. Burnett to the mound against Matt Harvey.
Burnett last won his third consecutive outing allowing no runs on three hits in seven innings. It was his third consecutive start in which he pitched seven innings. Burnett threw 103 pitches and struck out seven batters while walking five. He is 5-9 with a 4.18 ERA in 24 career starts against the Mets. Burnett has 2,413 career strikeouts and three more will tie him for 39th on the all-time list with Luis Tiant.
“This guy used to throw 100 but I’m not surprised, A.J. is a very good pitcher,” Mets manager Terry Collins said. “When those guys are as good as he is and finally realize they don’t have that power stuff anymore, they still figure out a way to beat you and he’s done that. The movement on his pitches with the tape I saw my god almighty.”
Harvey last pitched eight scoreless innings in a no-decision against the St. Louis Cardinals. He struck out nine and walked one in 105 pitches. Harvey has tied a career high with 16 consecutive scoreless innings. He is one of only two starts in the last 100 years to allow one or fewer runs in 23 of his first 44 games. Dwight Gooden is the other. Earlier this season he became the fifth pitcher in franchise history to win the first five outings of the season. Harvey has a 2.57 ERA in one career start against the Pirates.
“It’s an arm you don’t see everyday,” said Hurdle. “It’s very comparable to our guy, Gerrit Cole. He’s evolving, maturing and learning how to pitch with power. It’s a power arm coming after you that’s impressive. He came out this year and it looked like he hasn’t missed any time.”
Pregame thoughts:
Both manager press conferences centraled around pitching.
Hurdle once again was talking about pitchers distance in games after Gerrit Cole fell two outs short of his first career complete game and the Pirates first of the season.
“Pitchers were programmed to throw more pitches back in the day than they are now and I really believe that,” Hurdle said. “You’re not going to see the complete games that you’re used to. Look at the ERA of pitchers after they throw a complete game. The collateral damage that’s done in many circumstances is real.”
He also briefly discussed Andrew Lambo who was placed on the disabled list May 6 [retroactive to May 4] with plantar fasciitis on his left foot. He is currently in Florida and has shown no improvement or progress. Lambo has not played in any games and is not yet ready for a rehab assignment.
Collins discussed his teams soon to be six-man rotation. Dillon Gee will be arriving in Pittsburgh tonight. The Mets manager met with the five starting pitchers that are in town and discussed his vision with them.
A media member asked what the difference was between the six-man rotation and shutting a pitcher down for a couple weeks which benefited the Mets in the past.
“Would you rather see Matt Harvey pitching or sitting,” Collins said. “If you’re talking about winning, you better get his big ass back on that mound.”
He also addressed if he felt that six-man rotations are something that will catch on in the near future.
“No question about it, I see it coming especially the way pitchers are developing now,” said Collins. “They may benefit from that extra day.”
Bottom of the ninth:
The Pirates are 13-6 when scoring first and 17-5 when they scored more than four runs.
Pedro Alvarez has a career batting average of .315 against the Mets. He graduated from Horace Mann High School which is located in Bronx, NY. It is his highest average against any National League opponent.
Hurdle presented Kang with another first lineup card. This one was for his slide in last night’s game which scored the Pirates fourth and final run.
“I didn’t use the word bad, I used the word worst,” Hurdle said.
Photo credit: Getty Images
