Return to form
The Pirates' first game back from the All-Star break obviously did not go the way they wanted it to last night; James McDonald was wild and the bullpen was not good and they wasted seven runs and three homers and a lead in an ugly 10-7 loss. The way that good teams respond to something like that is they come out the next night and play a better game.
Of course, the Pirates have decided to put their fourth or fifth best starter in the second spot after the All-Star break, which means that if they're going to bounce back with a win tonight they'll probably need to score some runs to support Kevin Correia. Marco Estrada starts for the Brewers; he's made eight starts this year in addition to some bullpen appearances and while he's been generally good, the hits he gives up tend to be hit hard (he's allowed more home runs than walks this year, which is crazy). That could be a good thing for a Pirate offense that last night showed no signs of being slowed down by the All-Star break.
The first pitch tonight is at 7:10.
I’m new to the site and slow to respond to this item. However, I have to comment on the “Of course, the Pirates have have decided to put their fourth or fifth best starter in the second spot after the All-Star break, . . ."
Maybe you have all figured this out, but with fourth and fifth starters like Correia and and Bedard, you don’t want to start them back to back. If they blow up before the sixth inning in consecutive games, the bullpen will be staggering entering the next game. The risk of a loss because one of them gets an additional start that might otherwise fall to Burnett or Karstens is small compared with the gain from not wearing the bullpen down every time through the rotation the rest of the season.
I wonder how much the umps have on the Brewers tonight. This home plate umpire makes Frank Drebin look good.
Worst strike zone I've seen out of an ump this season. A lot of low outside pitches getting called strikes.
