Cleveland @ Pittsburgh preview
PNC Park
Last Meeting ( Jun 18, 2010 ) Cleveland 4, Pittsburgh 3
The Pittsburgh Pirates are inching dangerously close to the worst stretch in franchise history. Saturday might be their best chance to avoid infamy.
The Pirates have dropped 12 straight and another setback to the Cleveland Indians on Saturday will tie the second-longest losing skid since 1900. Should they get swept by the lowly Indians, the Pirates would match the club record 14-game losing streak set at the end of the 1954 season and start of 1955.
But the Pirates have hope. Cleveland starter David Huff has been awful on the road this season (0-5, 7.29 ERA in seven starts). Huff has already equaled his loss total from a year ago, when he went 11-8 to lead the team in victories.
Huff has been hit hard in two of three starts since he was really hit hard – by a line drive off the bat of New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez that forced the hurler to leave the field on a stretcher. Since then, Huff is 0-2 with a 6.75 ERA and hasn’t won since May 23.
The Indians won the series opener on Friday, 4-3, to end their own four-game skid. It was the first of nine consecutive road games in National League ballparks for the Indians, and it means designated hitter Travis Hafner has a lot of vacation time coming up.
Cleveland manager Manny Acta won’t play Hafner at first base, but said he intends to pinch hit Hafner in every game in order to try and keep him sharp. Hafner was hit by a pitch during his pinch-hitting appearance in the ninth inning on Friday.
Removing Hafner’s bat from the everyday lineup is a crushing blow to a lineup that is struggling to score runs. While not as dangerous as he was four years ago, Hafner had homered in four of his last 10 games.
The Pirates will rely on Jeff Karstens to try and end the slump. Karstens is winless in three starts since being inserted into the rotation, although he did pitch well in his last start against the Detroit Tigers.
Pittsburgh is 0-7 against the American League and struggling to beat most everyone these days.
The series features two of the game’s top prospects in Indians catcher Carlos Santana and Pirates third baseman Pedro Alvarez. Both have endured far different fates early on.
Santana reached base four times on Friday, has five RBIs in seven games since being recalled and has also hit safely in five of seven games.
Alvarez, meanwhile, is 0-for-10 with five strikeouts since being recalled last week.