As the Pittsburgh Pirates roll through the River City for the second time this year, here are the three key matchups to keep an eye on.
The Pittsburgh Pirates are in the midst of a 15 game stretch against National League Central Opponents. Following their series win against the St Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium this weekend, the Pirates travel to All American Ball Park in Cincinnati to take on the Reds for their third series of the season.
This season, the Pirates are 3-3 against the Reds, a team that has been known to give the Pirates issues despite sitting at the bottom of the division. A series between these two ball clubs is always intriguing and there are bound to be interesting matchups to keep an eye on.
3.) Jon Niese vs Jay Bruce
Left-Hander Jonathon Niese will get the start on the hill for the Pirates tonight in game one of this three game series. Record wise, Niese has been stellar going 3-1 in six starts. However, despite winning more games than he has lost, Niese has had struggles this season, allowing a .309 opponent batting average and compiling a 5.94 ERA. In his last three starts, Niese has gone at least five innings in each, while allowing at least nine hits and four earned runs. Niese will look to bounce back from his worst start of the season in his last outing in which he allowed six runs on nine hits while walking five in five innings agains the Chicago Cubs on May 3.
Tonight, Niese will be making his eighth career starts against the Reds. In those eight starts, Niese is 2-4 with a 4.06 ERA, 41 strikeouts and nine walks.
Niese doesn’t have a ton of experience against some of the younger talent on the Reds roster, however, a matchup to watch in tonight’s game involves the Reds Right Fielder Jay Bruce. In his career against Niese, Bruce is 2-for-15 (.133) with one home run, three RBI, two walks and seven strikeouts.
Throughout his career, Bruce has never been one to hit for a high batting average, only hitting .247 for his career, This season has been no different as he is hitting .234 with five home runs and 21 RBI in 29 games. Bruce has also struck out 31 times while only walking six times in 107 at-bats.
Based on Bruce’s career struggles against Niese and his .192 season batting average against left-handed pitching, this particular matchup may be entirely in Jonathon Niese’s favor. However, if Bruce is indeed in the Reds lineup, because there is a chance that he isn’t due to the mismatch versus a lefty, Niese must also recognize that Bruce is still a dangerous hitter who is capable of hitting the long ball. It will be an interesting matchup to watch, if it happens, and it will be intriguing to see who gets the upper hand.
2.) Juan Nicasio vs Entire Reds Lineup
For this particular matchup, we’re gonna go away from our usual individual matchups to watch, mainly because of Juan Nicasio‘s last start against the Cincinnati Reds.
On April 29, Nicasio had one of his best starts of the early point of the season, going seven shutout innings while giving up three hits, one walk and striking out eight in a 4-1 victory against the Reds at PNC Park.
In his career, the Pirates right-hander has made only four starts (eight total appearances) against Cincinnati, going 1-2 with a 3.76 ERA and 20 strikeouts in 26.1 innings.
It’s clear that Nicasio had his stuff looking good on that late April night, but you have to wonder whether he can do it once again. He struggled in his last start against Chicago, giving up one run on eight hits and three walks in 4.1 innings. He has stellar overall this season, going 3-3 with a 3.16 ERA is six starts.
Nicasio has an ultimate opportunity to put that short outing against the Cubs behind him. He also has an opportunity to lower his ERA tomorrow night against a foe that he has proven to have success against.
1.) Jung Ho Kang vs Reds Starters
On Friday Night, Jung Ho Kang played in his first game in almost eight months. In the series, Kang went 2-for-8 with two home runs against St Louis. Throughout his short career, Kang has had success against the Cardinals, almost as much success as he has had against the Cincinnati Reds.
In 14 career games against Cincinnati, Kang is hitting .295 with three home runs and seven RBI. Coincidentally, Kang has hit all three of those home runs and driven in each of those seven RBI in games played at Great American Ballpark, the location of this three game series.
Kang has never had an at-bat against Dan Straily, Alfredo Simon or Tim Adleman, the three probable starters in this series for the Reds. However, this may benefit Kang, who is only entering his second season in the Major Leagues. The 29-year old is used to hitting against pitchers for the first time and, as we’ve seen from him in the past, it doesn’t seem to affect the way he hits.
Kang, who is coming back from a major injury, may only play in two of the three games in this series, but expect him to have an impact in one way or another. He is a difference maker in the Pirates lineup and that is something that the Reds starters are going to witness first hand for the very first time.
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