Pittsburgh @ Cincinnati preview
Great American Ball Park
Last Meeting ( May 26, 2010 ) Pittsburgh 0, Cincinnati 4
The Cincinnati Reds keep rolling right along.
The Reds will be looking to win their seventh out of eight series in May when they close out a four-game set today against the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates.
Their steady play has the Reds at the top the National League Central and looking like serious contenders for the remainder of the season.
One of the things that playoff teams tend to do in the regular season is beat up on the dregs of the league, which is just what Cincinnati is in the process of doing. The Reds topped the Pirates 4-0 on Wednesday and have taken five of six from Pittsburgh this month.
It was Bronson Arroyo shutting down the Pirates on Wednesday with 7 2/3 scoreless innings. Miguel Cairo got a spot start at first base in place of Joey Votto and smacked a home run, as did Chris Heisey.
Votto, who leads the Reds with a .312 batting average, 10 homers and 33 RBIs, was held out with a stiff neck but is not expected to miss much time.
Wednesday marked the 11th time in 24 games this month that Pittsburgh was held to two runs or less. The Pirates rank 15th in the NL in team batting average and runs scored.
Johnny Cueto will be attempting to keep a string of strong starts going today. The 24-year-old right-hander has allowed three runs or less in each of his last five starts and has won three in a row, yielding a total of three runs in 22 innings.
Cueto had his best start of the season against the Pirates on May 11, allowing one hit in a complete-game shutout. The Dominican struck out eight and did not issue a walk in the outing.
He has dominated Pittsburgh in his career, going 7-2 with a 3.30 ERA in 10 starts, striking out 60 batters in 60 innings.
The Pirates will counter with statistically the worst starter in baseball in Charlie Morton. The 26-year-old right-hander ranks dead last among all major league ERA qualifiers at a robust mark of 8.71 to go along with his MLB-leading eight losses.
A key part of the trade that sent Nate McLouth to Atlanta last season, Pittsburgh was hoping for a little more of a return from Morton, who has managed to allow 58 hits and 10 homers in 41 1/3 innings.
Morton did turn in a quality start against his former team last week, allowing three runs - two earned - in six innings, but still took the loss as the Pirates fell to the Braves 4-2. He took the loss against Cueto back on May 11, allowing three runs in six innings.