PITTSBURGH PIRATES NOTES:
THE PIRATES:….evened their series with last night’s 7-4 win against the Mets…Have gone 5-4 in their last nine games on the road…Have gone 13-12 in their last 25 games since losing each of their first five games following the All-Star break…Have gone 2-1-3 in their last six series.
ABOUT TODAY’S STARTER: Johan Oviedo gets the start this afternoon in the finale of this three-game series at Citi Field…Oviedo is 3-2 with a 3.50 ERA in his last six starts dating back to July 15…Since that day, Oviedo has posted the second-lowest batting average against (.164) among all qualified pitchers in MLB…The only pitcher in all of MLB to record a lower batting average against in that time is Michael Lorenzen (.130).
WALK ON: Last night the Pirates walked a season-high tying 10 times (the team also walked 10 times on June 5 vs. Oakland)…Pittsburgh comes into today sixth in all of MLB with 420 walks (the Pirates finished tied for 17th in that category in 2022).
THE ROAD AHEAD: The Pirates will depart for Minnesota following today’s game to begin a three-game series against the Twins on Friday…Pittsburgh has gone 4-5 at Target Field since the ballpark opened in 2010…The Pirates won their last series in Minnesota after taking two of three games from April 23-25, 2021.
LOVE FOR LIOVER: Tuesday night Liover Peguero went deep for the fifth time in his last 18 games dating back to July 24…Since July 24 Peguero has also knocked in 13 runs, which ranks second among National League rookies behind Milwaukee’s Sal Frelick (14)…Since making his season debut on July 17, Peguero is tied for fourth among National League rookies in RBI (14), ranks first in slugging (.522) and fourth in OPS (.832).
KE’S TO THE GAME: Ke’Bryan Hayes reached base safely four times in six plate appearances Tuesday…He singled to lead off the game, which raised his average to .333 (15-for-45) in the first inning this season, while also drawing two walks in a game for the third time this season and first since April 26…Hayes has now hit safely in each of his last seven starts, going 13-for-30 (.433) with two doubles, a triple, three home runs and 11 RBI…Hayes is also 5-for-7 lifetime against Mets starter Tylor Megill.
CALL TO THE PEN: Four Pirates relievers combined to record six strikeouts in the last 3.2 innings of last night’s game…This month, Pittsburgh’s bullpen has recorded a Major-League leading 69 strikeouts (the Marlins rank second with 66).
THE BRIDGE TO BEDNAR: Colin Holderman has an 0.71 ERA (12.2ip/1er) in his last 13 appearances after working a scoreless eighth inning Tuesday night, which included a pair of strikeouts…Holderman comes into today with the fourth-most strikeouts (34) while pitching in the eighth inning in all of MLB…The only three pitchers to accumulate more punchouts in the eighth inning are Houston’s Bryan Abreu (52), Texas’ Aroldis Chapman (51) and Miami’s Tanner Scott (37).
THE RENEGADE: David Bednar ranks fifth among all National League pitchers in saves after recording his 25th of the season Tuesday night…Bednar’s save on Tuesday was also the 47th of his career as a Pirate…That is tied with Jason Grilli for 13th place in team history since saves became an official in 1969.
ANDREW ON THE BASES: Andrew McCutchen enters today with an 18-game on-base streak…That’s the third-longest active on-base streak among all National League players (Atlanta’s Ozzie Albies has the longest active streak at 23 games while Matt Olson has the second-longest active streak at 21 games)… McCutchen has the team’s longest on-base streak of 2023, reaching base safely in 20 straight from June 5 to July 1.
STARTING PITCHER – 24 – RHP JOHAN OVIEDO
JOHAN OVIEDO: The 25-year-old righthander is making his 25th start today…He lost a 9-2 decision (5.0ip/6r) in his last start Friday night against the Reds.
vs. NEW YORK (NL): 0-3 in four career starts…Is 0-1 in one start this year, losing a 5-1 decision (6.1ip/2r) to Kodai Senga on 6/10…Went 0-2 in two starts in 2022, losing a 10-0 decision (1.2ip/4r) to Jacob deGrom in game two of a doubleheader at PNC Park on 9/7 and coming away with a no-decision (4.0ip/3r) on 9/18 at Citi Field.
NEW YORK METS NOTES:
No team release available.
