The Pittsburgh Pirates and visiting Philadelphia Phillies, who open a series Friday, are both coming off important series wins.
The Phillies, who are in a tight race for a National League wild-card spot, had lost two straight series and five of six games after dropping a 3-2 game Monday against the Baltimore Orioles.
Philadelphia then pulled out of that funk by winning two straight against Baltimore, one of the best teams in baseball.
Wednesday, the Phillies notched their 24th come-from-behind win in topping Baltimore 6-4.
“It’s good to get back on the winning side,” Philadelphia manager Rob Thomson said.
Pittsburgh, which is not in contention for much besides avoiding a third straight 100-loss season, had not won a series this month and had lost 14 of 18 games in July before winning two of three at San Diego prior to the Phillies series.
That series wasn’t secured until All-Star closer David Bednar gave up a run and got out of a bases-loaded jam in the ninth Wednesday for a 3-2 win and his 20th save.
“Whenever Bednar’s out there, I’ve got the utmost confidence in him,” Pittsburgh left fielder Bryan Reynolds said. “Bednar’s a dog. He’s going to go out there and he’s going to bust it every pitch for the whole inning. Never doubt Bednar.”
The Pirates will get manager Derek Shelton back after he served a one-game suspension for arguing an ejection of reliever Angel Perdomo, who has two games remaining on his suspension over a beanball incident. Perdomo plunked San Diego’s Manny Machado one pitch after serving up a long homer to Juan Soto on Tuesday.
In the opener, Philadelphia right-hander Zack Wheeler (7-5, 3.88 ERA) and Pittsburgh right-hander Mitch Keller (9-6, 4.01 ERA) are scheduled to start.
Keller, who has emerged as the Pirates’ ace this season, looks to get back on track after two straight losses coming off his first All-Star Game. He has given up 14 runs and 19 hits in 11 innings in those losses.
Sunday against the Angels in Anaheim, Keller struck out seven in five innings but gave up six runs in a 7-5 Pittsburgh loss.
“Hit the video room. See what’s going on,” Keller said of what he planned to do before Friday’s start. “I have to get back to work.”
Near the end of May, Keller’s ERA was 2.44, so something is not working. Shelton said Keller has simply been serving up too many hittable pitches.
“When you stay in the middle of the plate in the big leagues, you’re going to get hit,” Shelton said. “He’s left more balls in good hitting zones, and when you leave the ball in the hitting zone, you’re going to get hit.”.
Keller is 0-2 with a 7.80 ERA in three career starts against the Phillies.
Wheeler is coming off a tough-luck loss Saturday. He allowed one run — that scored on a pop fly that dropped in — and five hits in seven innings, with eight strikeouts and one walk, in Philadelphia’s 1-0 loss to the Cleveland Guardians.
He wasn’t willing to scapegoat the defense.
“I don’t think I had my dominant stuff,” he said. “But I had good stuff. I was able to keep them off balance, throw a lot of strikes, get into my counts and not theirs.”
Wheeler is 3-0 with a 2.30 ERA in five career starts against the Pirates.
–Field Level Media
