With two straight wins, the Pirates look to get to the .500 mark in the month of May for just the second time since the 2005 season (they also did it in 2009) tonight against the Padres. Jeff Karstens takes the mound for the Bucs tonight, looking to continue his strong performance thus far in 2011. Thus far, Karstens has the best K-rate of his career (7.1 K/9) and he’s turned in three pretty good starts since Ross Ohlendorf went on the disabled list.
He’s still got endurance issues, but he’s worked into the seventh inning in two straight starts now. That’s progress for him. He’s got a tough draw tonight, though, against Mat Latos. Latos has racked up the strikeouts (10.4/9) since his return from the disabled list, but he’s giving up a ton of gopher balls (five in 21 2/3 innings) and as a result, his ERA is hovering around 5.00. The Pirates hit two last night, so the question is whether they can ding Latos for a few runs or if the strikeouts will catch up to them.
First pitch tonight is at 10:05.
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