Atlanta @ Pittsburgh preview
PNC Park
Last Meeting ( Sep 7, 2010 ) Atlanta 0, Pittsburgh 5
The sinking Atlanta Braves may just have the right man for the job.
After missing his last start due to an elbow problem, Derek Lowe takes the mound against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday as the Braves hope to avoid a three-game sweep.
After winning just nine of their previous 36 games, Pirates starters Brian Burres and James McDonald held the Braves to just one run in the first two games of the series.
Atlanta has lost five of six and dropped one-half game behind the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League East after leading by seven games on July 22. The Phillies beat the Florida Marlins 8-7 on Tuesday.
Lowe (11-12, 4.53 ERA) could be extremely tough on the Pirates if healthy. The sinker-baller has won all nine starts against Pittsburgh during his career, posting a 2.79 ERA, including a 6-0 mark at PNC Park. He is 2-0 against the Bucs this season.
Lowe, however hasn’t pitched since Aug. 29 because of bone chips in his elbow and wasn’t confirmed by the Braves as the starter until Tuesday.
The right-hander lasted just three innings in his last outing, getting touched for five runs and six hits in a no-decision against the Florida Marlins. Lowe is 0-3 with a 5.32 ERA in his last four starts and has only two wins since the All-Star break.
Zach Duke (7-12, 5.24 ERA) will try to complete the Pirates’ third home sweep of the season. The Bucs took all three from the Cincinnati Reds in mid-April and swept the Chicago Cubs in early May.
Duke beat the Washington Nationals 8-5 on Friday, surrendering four runs and five hits in five-plus innings. He is 0-1 with a 5.11 ERA in two starts against Atlanta this season and lost to Lowe on May 28.
Red-hot Neil Walker backed Burres in the 3-1 series-opening victory with a go-ahead homer in the sixth inning. Burres allowed just a run and five hits in six innings in his first start since May 29.
McDonald, acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers at the trade deadline, outdueled Atlanta ace Tim Hudson 5-0 on Tuesday.
The 6-5 McDonald pitched seven scoreless innings, worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth and got two great defensive plays each from left fielder Jose Tabata and third baseman Pedro Alvarez.
Hudson retired the first 12 batters before Garrett Jones led off the fifth with a sharp single to right field. Pittsburgh finally cracked through in the seventh when Jones and Alvarez smacked back-to-back doubles and Ronny Cedeno added a two-run triple to provide a 3-0 lead and end the night for Hudson.
Walker doubled in the ninth inning to extend his hitting streak to 14 games, the longest for a Pirates rookie since Johnny Ray in 1982.