These last two nights, these two wins over the Red Sox, they’ve been a lot of things. They’ve been fun and surprising and I suspect they’ve been awfully memorable for the Pirate fans in attendance at PNC Park. A third win today, though? That would be downright special.
The Red Sox are starting Andrew Miller, their big offseason reclamation project, this afternoon. You likely remember Miller as the top talent in the 2006 draft that fell considerably in the first round due to signability concerns. He rose quickly through the Tigers’ system before being traded to Florida as part of the Miguel Cabrera deal, but he’s never really realized his potential because of serious control issues. The Red Sox think they have him back on the right track and he pitched awfully well in Triple-A in May and June before making a start against the Padres last week. This Pirate team, though, has been quite good at wearing starters with control issues out of late. No one’s really noticing it because it’s not leading to runs, but if they keep doing it, I suspect that it will lead to runs eventually.
They might need those runs today. James McDonald has not been sharp of late and when he’s not sharp he walks people and gives up home runs. Walking people and giving up home runs will get you absolutely killed against the Red Sox, so let’s hope J-Mac is more on his game today.
First pitch this afternoon is at 1:35. Eric Fryer become the latest Pirate to make his big league debut, but besides that Clint Hurdle is using his standard lineup vs. lefties. He’s not screwing around: he wants a sweep here as bad as we fans do. Let’s get out the brooms.
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