What: Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Milwaukee Brewers
Where: Miller Park
When: 8:10 EST
After last night's victory, the Pirates found themselves with a very slim shot at the second Wild Card berth. It will take a miracle to get there, but there is a chance. For the Pirates to make the playoffs, a number of things all need to occur in just the right way. The Pirates need to gain two games on the Cardinals leading up to their season-closing series in St. Louis. The Pirates would then need to sweep that series. All the while, the Giants would need to stay behind or tied with both the Pirates and the Cardinals. As you can imagine, there is a very low chance of all of these things happening. Until it is mathematically impossible, though, the Bucs are still in it. Every game is huge. One loss at the wrong time could take this challenge from daunting to impossible. With the Cubs and Nationals coming to town next week, it is imperative that the Pirates take care of things in Milwaukee.
The Bucs will start rookie righty Chad Kuhl on the mound. Kuhl has been consistent in all of his time in the Majors; he has a 3.97 ERA this season, including 3.86 in his last seven games. He's averaged 5.2 innings per start, which is a solid number. The Pirates will want him to deliver at least that tonight, because their bullpen was taxed last night due to a short start by Stephen Brault.
The Brewers' starter, righty Jimmy Nelson, has had a disappointing year. He had high hopes after a strong rookie season in 2015, but he has struggled his way to a 4.42 ERA in thirty starts this year. Certainly not horrible numbers, but not what the Brewers were looking for out of their promising young pitcher. He's recorded a terrible 5.84 ERA in his last seven starts, so he is trending downward. The Bucs should be able to do some damage here.
The Pirates lineup:
Adam Frazier LF
Josh Bell 1B
Andrew McCutchen CF
Gregory Polanco RF
David Freese 3B
Francisco Cervelli C
Sean Rodriguez 2B
Jordy Mercer SS
Chad Kuhl P
The Bucs got a lot of production from their top three of Frazier-Bell-'Cutch last night, and they'll look for that again tonight. David Freese is hitting just .200 in his last seven games, and it seems like Hurdle is letting him play his way out of it with Kang on the bench.
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