The Pittsburgh Pirates open a three-game series with the Oakland Athletics of the American League tonight at PNC Park. First pitch is 7:05pm. Pre-game on WISR 680am will be 6:40pm. Joe Musgrove will start for the Pirates tonight. He is 1-2 overall this season with a 1.54 ERA, which is the third-lowest ERA in the major leagues.
The Pirates pitching has been the story this season, with the bats part of the reason for recent struggles. Their starting pitchers have the lowest overall ERA in the National League, and lead the league with 17 quality starts. The Bucs are 11th out of 15 N.L. teams in batting average. 14th out of 15 in extra-base hits.
The Bucs begin the night 14-14 overall, and are 4-1/2 games behind the first-place St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Central Division. The Cardinals lost to Washington 2-1 Thursday.
(Saturday’s game has a 7:05pm start. WISR pre-game is 6:40pm. Sunday’s game begins at 1:35pm. WISR pre-game begins at 12:35pm with the Neil Huntington Show.)
Thursday – The Altoona Curve defeated the Richmond Flying Squirrels 9-2 to even their record at 13-13.