Pirates Look To Continue Climb Toward Brewers Against Arizona

At the beginning of the season everyone knew that the National League Central division would be one of the most highly contested division in the MLB.  We just did not know that the spot everyone in the NL Central would have to fight for is second place.

If the playoff started today, the only team in the NL Central that would make it would be the Milwaukee Brewers. Meanwhile, the big favorites of the division, the St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds and the Pittsburgh Pirates wallow anywhere from seven to eight games behind the Brewers all vying for second place and trying to climb toward the Brewers.

The Pirates are looking to get another step closer in an early afternoon game against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Pirates already got come footing beating Arizona 3-2 in the first game of the series yesterday.

However, today the Pirates offense will be going up against the D-Backs Chase Anderson.

Anderson struggled in the month of June but in May in who his first five starts. He has dropped three games straight since then, but this game could be the one where he turns it around.

In his last outing, he allowed the Cleveland Indians to get four runs on seven hits over five innings. Anderson has also been allowing homers, including two against the Indians.

He has a solid 3.63 career ERA, though, and could turn it around at any moment, which makes him a threat to any team. 

Charlie Morton will start for the Pirates and try to lead his team to getting one game closer to the Brewers.

Morton lead the league in hit batters with 15. That is just a hit batter shy of double the next closest pitcher. Morton’s hit batters are not the result of poor pitching, but instead the result of his most potent and signature pitch which comes in close to batters.

Morton has 39 strikeouts versus nine walks in 32 innings over his last five starts.  He is in a bit of rut like Anderson, however, as he will be looking to avoid his third strait loss. He has a career ERA of 3.41, similar to Anderson’s.

Homers have not been a problem for Morton. He has allowed just one homer at home in 44 2/3 innings.

The game starts at 7:05 p.m. ET. You can bet on the game over at Bovada. The Pirates are the favorites to win this one.