The Pittsburgh Pirates haven’t played great baseball this year, but they did have their moments. They were terrific at home (44-37), for instance, and almost unbeatable on Wednesdays.
The Pirates went 17-7 (.708 winning percentage) on Wednesdays this year compared to 52-82 (.388) on the other six days of the week. For whatever reason, they were at their best on hump day.
Pittsburgh continued that trend during its final Wednesday game of the season against the Cincinnati Reds yesterday, prevailing 4-3 in extra innings at Great American Ball Park.
It helped that Paul Skenes started for the Pirates, giving them an excellent chance to win in his last start of the year. Skenes was his usual dominant self, firing six shutout innings with seven strikeouts to put the finishing touches on his historic, Cy Young-caliber season.
Pittsburgh’s offense managed just two runs against Hunter Greene, however, and its bullpen faltered late, allowing the Reds to tie the game on Tyler Stephenson’s solo shot in the bottom of the ninth. The two teams traded runs in the 10th before the Pirates prevailed in the 11th on a go-ahead double from Spencer Horwitz, securing their fourth straight win and seriously damaging Cincinnati’s playoff chances.
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Pittsburgh will go for the sweep on Wednesday afternoon behind 25-year-old rookie Braxton Ashcraft, who’s 4-3 with a 2.62 ERA and 1.9 WAR in 65 1/3 innings. The Reds will try to salvage the series finale behind Nick Lodolo, who’s 8-8 with a 3.44 ERA but has a 5.95 ERA over his last four outings.
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Featured image via Ron Chenoy/Imagn Images