Andrew McCutchen and Adam Wainwright have battled dozens of times through the years, and they met on the field again last night, with Cutch leading a Bucco breakthrough. Joe Block recaps a second straight Pirates win.
Manager Derek Shelton says Andrew McCutchen is heating up again.
This season, McCutchen has recorded his 2,000th career hit, 1,000th career walk, and 400th career double. Shelton is thrilled to be able to watch Cutch go for career home run number 300.
McCutchen is 26 for 83 in his career against Adam Wainwright, a .313 average with four home runs. He enjoys dueling with the 42-year-old veteran right-hander.
For the series finale today, Pirates right-hander Luis Ortiz returns from the minor leagues to make the start. He is 2-3 with a 4.86 ERA in the majors and was 4-4 with a 4.61 ERA at Indianapolis. The Cardinals will start left-hander Zack Thompson [2-5, 3.90 ERA]. It’s a 12:10 airtime, 12:35 first pitch on WCCS.
If you were planning to go to Altoona to watch Paul Skenes make his Double-A debut on Saturday night, you had better already have your ticket. The Curve announced yesterday that Saturday night’s game is sold out. And get there early. Skenes is not expected to go more than one or two innings. The top overall pick in this year’s draft has not been stretched out, pitching only four innings of actual game action since the College World Series in June.
The Curve blasted Akron, 9-2 last night in the series opener. Matt Gorski hit his 15th home run of the season, Mike Jarvis hit his first in Double-A, and Tsung-Che Cheng and Eli Wilson each had two hits. Nick Dombkowski got the win with five innings of two-run ball.
Aaron Shortridge starts for the Curve in the second game of the series tonight.
