Pittsburgh @ Florida preview
Sun Life Stadium
Last Meeting ( Oct 1, 2010 ) Pittsburgh 5, Florida 1
Charlie Morton takes the mound on Saturday as the Pittsburgh Pirates try to avoid becoming the worst road team in Major League Baseball history on Saturday when they face the Florida Marlins.
The Pirates came into this series with a 16-61 mark away from home and lost the series opener, 11-9, before responding with a 5-1 win on Friday night. They are trying to keep in front of the 1963 New York Mets, who were just 17-64 away from home.
Morton (2-11, 7.94 ERA) heads into this start with a 1-1 mark and a 4.33 ERA over his last five outings, but has yet to win a start on the road this season. Morton allowed four runs and 10 hits against the St. Louis Cardinals the last time he took the hill, dropping a 6-4 decision.
Morton is 0-7 on the road with a 9.80 ERA in 10 outings as a visitor this season, but is 2-1 with a 4.49 ERA lifetime against the Marlins. He was nearly untouchable the last time he faced Florida, going six shutout innings while allowing only one hit during a 7-4 win on Aug. 3, 2009.
Pittsburgh received a solid effort from Daniel McCutchen on Friday night as he stepped in for the injured Paul Maholm and allowed just one run over four innnings.
Normally one who workds out of the bullpen, McCutchen was on a pitch count but looked good in striking out two and walking one in 53 pitches.
From there, Chan Ho Park fired three scoreless innings while striking out six to pick up the 124th win of his career, passing Hideo Nomo for the most wins by an Asian-born pitcher in league history.
The Marlins answer with Alex Sanabia (5-3, 3.73 ERA), who took a no-decision in his last start while holding the Atlanta Braves to one run – a solo home run – and five hits over seven innings of work.
The rookie right-hander had been solid lately, allowing only six earned runs over his last four starts. He set a career high with 7 2/3 innings of work in his only other start against the Pirates, allowing only one run and four hits while striking out five in a 4-2 win.
Sanabia will have to look out for Pittsburgh's rookie third baseman Pedro Alvarez, who went 2-for-4 at the plate on Friday with his second home run in two days.
Alvarez has now hit safely in 11 straight games, posting a .467 average with five home runs over that span.