PITTSBURGH PIRATES NOTES:
THE PIRATES:..had the day off yesterday in St. Louis…Improved to 3-0 on their current road trip after winning 4-1 Wednesday night to complete a three-game sweep against the Royals…Have won three straight road games for the first time since a five-game winning streak away from PNC Park from 4/17-29…Have not been charged with an error in the last six games, which is the third-longest active streak in MLB behind the Rays (eight games) and Rangers (seven games)…Have gone 20-19 in their last 39 games since losing each of their first five games following the All-Star break.
ROSTER MOVES: The Pittsburgh Pirates today selected the contract of outfielder/first baseman Miguel Andujar from Triple-A Indianapolis…Right-handed pitcher Carmen Mlodzinski has ended his rehab assignment with Indianapolis and has been reinstated from the 15-day injured list (right elbow soreness)… Right-handed pitcher Max Kranick has ended his rehab assignment with Indianapolis, has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list and optioned to Triple-A…Outfielder Cal Mitchell and right-handed pitcher Yohan Ramirez have been designated for assignment to make room for Andujar and Kranick on the 40-man roster.
ABOUT TONIGHT’S STARTER: Mitch Keller gets the start tonight in the opener of this weekend series against the Cardinals…Keller tossed 8.0 shutout innings in his last start one week ago tonight against the Cubs at PNC Park…Beginning with his outing on August 8 against the Braves, he has gone 2-0 with a 2.16 ERA (25.0ip/6er)…That’s tied for the sixth-lowest ERA in all of MLB in that time among pitchers with at least 25.0 innings of work.
K IS FOR KELLER: Mitch Keller gets the start tonight in the opener of this weekend series against the Cardinals…Keller comes into today fourth in the National league and eighth in all of MLB with 179 strikeouts…The last Pirate to finish among the top 10 leaders in strikeouts in MLB was A.J. Burnett with 209 in 2013…Keller’s 179 strikeouts are currently tied for the 15th-most in a single season in Pirates history along with Jameson Taillon (2018) and Bob Veale (1967).
THE HOT CORNER: Ke’Bryan Hayes recorded 20 RBI last month, which were the second-most among all third basemen in MLB behind Houston’s Alex Bregman (21)…Hayes also
finished the month ranked second among all third basemen in MLB in OPS (.956) and home runs (six), third in batting (.320) and total bases (57), first in slugging (.588) and seventh in OBP (.368).
UNDER THE ARCH: The Pirates are 7-3 this season against the Cardinals, giving the Bucs their first winning season against the RedBirds since going 10-9 in 2013…The Bucs have won five of their last six games against the RedBirds, while the pitching staff has recorded a 2.88 ERA (90.2ip/29er) through the first 10 games of the season series.
STARTING PITCHER – 23 – RHP MITCH KELLER
MITCH KELLER: The 27-year-old righthander will make his 28th start of the season tonight…He tossed 8.0 shutout innings and won a 2-1 decision against Chicago’s Kyle Hendricks in his last start Friday night at PNC Park.
VS. ST. LOUIS: 2-1 with a 3.51 ERA (48.2ip/18er) in nine career starts…Has made one start this year, coming away with a no-decision on 4/16 (6.0ip/3er) in a 5-4 10-inning walkoff loss at St. Louis… Went 0-1 in four starts last season.
ST. LOUIS CARDINALS NOTES:
RECENT REDBIRDS: The St. Louis Cardinals welcome the division-rival Pittsburgh Pirates for the opener of a three-game Labor Day weekend series tonight at Busch Stadium … The Cardinals opened their six-game homestand by taking two-of-three from the Padres, as San Diego native Tommy Edman delivered walk-off RBI (1B & HR) in consecutive games off Josh Hader.
FLIGHT PATTERN: St. Louis enters the day in 5th place in the NL Central, 16.5 games out of first … St. Louis has spent 117 of 151 days in last place on the MLB schedule (April 26-May 19, May 29-July 7 & July 28-present) … The Cardinals 58-76 record is their lowest at the 134-game mark since 1978 when they were 58-76 (.433) … St. Louis would need to finish 23-5 (.821) over its remaining 28 games to avoid finishing under .500 for the first time since 2007 (78-84).
ROSTER EXPANSION: As Major League rosters expand to 28 players for September, the Cardinals activated OF Lars Nootbaar (10-day) and All-Star RHP Ryan Helsley (60-day) from the Injured List, transferred INF/OF Brendan Donovan to the 60-day Injured List, and activated RHP Jake Woodford from 15-day Injured List and optioned him to Memphis (AAA) … Nootbaar missed 13 games due to a lower abdomen contusion, while Helsley has missed the previous 70 games due to a right forearm strain.
DAK ATTACK: Dakota Hudson is 21-5 (.808 win pct.) in 54 career games (37 starts) at Busch Stadium III … Of pitchers with 25 or more decisions at home, Hudson’s .808 winning pct. ranks 3rd all-time in MLB history behind Miami’s José Fernández (29-2, .935), and former Pirate/Tiger Emil Yde (27-6, .818) (pronounced EE-dee) … Among Cardinals to make 25 starts at home, only John Tudor (.814, 35-8) has a better win pct. than Hudson (chart left).
MORE EDMAN: With his next stolen base, Tommy Edman (52 HR and 99 SB) would become only the 9th player in franchise history with 50+ home runs and 100+ stolen bases in their Cardinals career and first since Edgar Rentería (71 HR & 148 SB) … Since 2019 when Edman made his MLB debut, only six MLB players have reached the 50 HR/100 SB threshold: Whit Merrifield, José Ramírez, Trea Turner, Starling Marte, and Ronald Acuña Jr … Since 2021, Edman, Turner, Ramírez, and Randy Arozarena are the only four MLB players to swipe 20 or more bases in each of the last three seasons (2021-23).
HEIR JORDAN: Rookie Jordan Walker went 4-for-4 while missing the cycle by a triple in Wednesday’s series finale against San Diego … Walker became the first Cardinal with a four-hit game at age 21.100 or younger since Ken Reitz (21.076) on Sept. 8, 1972 at New York Mets (G1) … Walker’s 12th homer Wednesday also surpassed Stan Musial (1941-42) for 5th among Cardinals before their 22nd birthday … Rogers Hornsby (14 HR from 1915-18) ranks 4th, while Albert Pujols holds the franchise record with 37 blasts during his 2001 National League Rookie of the Year campaign.
ENDING ON A HIGH NOTE: Since 2000, the Cardinals .568 (378-287) combined regular season winning percentage in September/ October ranks 2nd-best in MLB behind the Yankees (.584, 385-274) … St. Louis hasn’t experienced a losing September/October since 2018 (12-15 record).
NOOT NEWS: Lars Nootbaar has reached base safely in 11 consecutive games (Aug. 4-present), T-14th longest active in on-base streak in MLB … Nootbaar is hitting .330/.431/.596 since the All-Star Break (St. Louis is 16-14 when Nootbaar appeared in those games).
OH BROTHER: Cardinals outfielder Richie Palacios meets up this series against his older brother Joshua of the Pirates again … Earlier this year, the Cardinals Willson Contreras matched up against his younger bother William with Milwaukee … Other Cardinals who have faced their brother in the opposite dugout include Yadier Molina, who played against his brother Jose in 2014 … Yadi also had meetings against his brother Bengie as recently as 2010 … Cardinals Asst. GM & Director of Scouting Randy Flores and his brother, Ron, played against each other in 2007 while Randy was pitching for St. Louis.
TONIGHT’S STARTING PITCHER: RHP DAKOTA HUDSON (5-1, 4.41 ERA)
TONIGHT’S GAME
- Makes his 7th start of the season and 13th appearance since his promotion from Memphis (AAA) at the beginning of July. It’s his 1st meeting of the year against the Pirates. Had his career-best six game (Sept. 17, 2022-8/20/23) win streak, which including five-straight this season (July 15-Aug. 20) ended his last time out in a 12-1 loss at Philadelphia last Saturday. Went 4-1 in August, one of six MLB pitchers with four wins during the month. St. Louis has won five of Hudson’s six starts this season. The Cardinals were 13-7 in Jack Flaherty’s starts, the only other Cardinals starting pitcher this season that the team sported a winning record in his starts. The Cardinals are 45-28 (.616 win pct.) in his 73 career games started and 28-9 (.757) in his 37 career games started at Busch Stadium. Is 1-0 with a 3.86 ERA (16.1 IP) and 12 strikeouts in six games as a reliever. Spent bulk of 2023 season at Memphis (AAA) where he was 5-4, 6.00 ERA in 11 starts.
LAST TIME OUT
- Lost for the 1st time in 2023 as his career-best 6-game win streak came to an end. Matched his career high with 5 walks allowed and threw a season-high 105 pitches, as the Phillies rolled to a 12-1 win with a seven-run 7th last Sat. at Citizens Bank Park.
DATE vs. RESULT DEC IP H R ER BB SO HR NP-S
8/26 at PHI L 12-1 L-1 5.2 6 5 5 5 1 1 105-60
BUSCH STADIUM III
- He’s 21-5 (.808 win pct.) in 54 career games (37 starts) at Busch Stadium, and ranks 2nd in ERA (2.73) all-time at Busch III among pitchers with a minimum 230.0 IP. Of pitchers with 25 or more home decisions, his .808 winning pct. (21-5), ranks 3rd among starting pitchers in MLB history trailing Jose Fernandez (29-2, .935) and Emil Yde (27-6, .818).
2023 SEASON
- Was brought up as the 27th player for the DH vs. NYY (7/1) in Game 2 and pitched 2.2 innings. Was recalled on 7/5 from Memphis (AAA) and was thrust into action that night allowing two runs in 2.2 relief innings at MIA.
