Yes, the Pirates play the Red Sox and Blue Jays this weekend. And yes, the Pirates’ schedule after that until July 17th (the first series after the All-Star Break) is full of the Nationals and Cubs and Astros. So yeah, it’s possible that the Pirates will be seven games under .500 at this time next week. And it’s possible that they’ll be well above .500 on July 17. I don’t know, you don’t know, the Pirates don’t know. This team is capable of a pretty wide spectrum of things right now.
What the Pirates need to do is win today. We can worry about the Red Sox when it’s time to play the Red Sox and about the Blue Jays when it’s time to play the Blue Jays, but this team can’t really afford five losses in six games to the Indians and Orioles. Kevin Correia starts today, which means that the Pirates will need to score some runs but will probably be in the game. Zach Britton goes for the Orioles, which means that the Pirates are going with the lefty lineup that includes Matt Diaz, Neil Walker batting right-handed, and the always adventurous move of putting Garrett Jones at first base. It also means Jose Tabata and Andrew McCutchen and the somewhat hot Brandon Wood get to bat against a lefty.
First pitch today is at 12:35.
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