JT Brubaker hasn’t pitched like an Opening Day starter for the Pittsburgh Pirates yet this season.

However, he’s fared relatively well against the Chicago Cubs.

The right-hander will try for a fourth time to pick up his first victory of the season Sunday while looking to help the Pirates win a road series against the Cubs for the first time since 2018 and overcome Saturday’s 21-0 blowout loss.

Brubaker (0-2, 7.30 ERA) tied for the Pirates’ lead among starters with five wins last season and earned the 2022 Opening Day nod.

However, he’s allowed 12 runs — 10 earned — with 11 hits and nine walks while striking out 13 over 12 1/3 innings in his first three starts this year.

But Brubaker does have something solid to build on after following a four-run second inning in Tuesday’s 5-2 loss at Milwaukee by finishing with three straight scoreless frames. Only two of those runs were earned, and Brubaker gave up just two hits and fanned six with a pair of walks.

“(Those) third, fourth and fifth (innings) are how I need to pitch,” Brubaker told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “I know that. I need to attack guys.”

Brubaker is 2-1 with a 3.15 ERA in four career starts against the Cubs. He did, however, allow three runs, four hits and two walks over three innings of a 7-6 loss in his first start at Wrigley Field on Sept. 4.

He’ll also try to contain a Cubs offense that helped snap the club’s four-game losing streak with Saturday’s rout of the Pirates.

Pittsburgh starting pitchers are 0-8 with a 6.68 ERA this season.

Chicago managed 12 runs in its previous four contests, and just five while losing the first two of this four-game set to Pittsburgh.

But the Cubs banged out 23 hits during their highest-scoring game since a 26-7 win at Colorado on Aug. 18, 1995.

Meanwhile, according to STATS, Saturday’s defeat featured the most runs Pittsburgh has allowed since a 21-4 loss to the New York Giants on May 25, 1954.

Chicago’s Ian Happ is 4-for-12 with two doubles against Brubaker and had three hits with two RBIs on Saturday. Seiya Suzuki was 1-for-11 in the previous four games but had three hits, as did Willson Contreras and Alfonso Rivas, who also had five RBIs.

Chicago shortstop Nico Hoerner, with a career-high four hits in five at-bats Saturday, is 8-for-12 in the last three games.

“We’ve been working hard in the cage,” Rivas told Marquee Sports Network. “Approach-wise, swing-wise. You know, it’s all the time we’re putting in, and very happy it paid off.”

The Cubs will turn to Justin Steele (1-1, 4.50 ERA) in an effort to earn a series split Sunday.

The left-hander pitched five scoreless innings vs. Milwaukee in his season debut but has yielded six runs, eight hits and five walks over seven innings to Colorado and Tampa Bay in the two that followed.

Pittsburgh’s Daniel Vogelbach has never faced Steele, but he’s batting .333 (7-for-21) during a six-game hitting streak. He recorded one of the Pirates’ three hits on Saturday.

Pittsburgh last claimed a winning road series over the Cubs when they took two of three games in April 2018.

–Field Level Media

The Chicago White Sox will turn to Lucas Giolito on Sunday in an effort to end their six-game losing streak and prevent them from being swept by the Minnesota Twins in Minneapolis.

Giolito, a right-hander, had to leave his first start of the season on April 8 against the Detroit Tigers with a left-abdominal strain after he allowed one hit over four shutout innings while striking out six.

Giolito (0-0) went 11-9 with a 3.53 ERA and 201 strikeouts in 178 2/3 innings in 2021. He threw a simulated game Tuesday in Arizona and was happy with the results, prompting the White Sox to activate him from the injured list.

“I felt healthy,” Giolito told the Arlington Herald. “That was the goal, to be ready to rejoin the rotation and hoping to make a good impact going forward.”

“We’ve got the big guy back,” Chicago manager Tony La Russa told reporters.

Giolito is 7-7 with a 4.42 ERA in 16 career starts against Minnesota, including 5-2 with a 3.44 ERA at Target Field. He was 3-0 with a 2.05 ERA against the Twins last season, allowing just 10 hits and four walks in 22 innings while striking out 20.

The White Sox are expected to be without star left fielder Eloy Jimenez, who won a 2020 Silver Slugger Award, after he left Saturday’s 9-2 loss in the second inning after injuring his hamstring while trying to beat out an infield grounder.

He is scheduled to undergo an MRI on Sunday but left the stadium on crutches.

“The injury to Eloy is more important than losing the game,” La Russa said. “You walk into the training room and you see him, and he’s crying his eyes out. You walk in and everybody cries. He loves what he does. I told him there will be a lot of season left when he comes back.”

Jimenez missed a large chunk of the 2021 season after undergoing surgery for a torn left pectoral suffered while trying to pull back a home run off the bat of Oakland catcher Sean Murphy in a March 24 Cactus League game. The injury required surgery that kept him out until July 26.

Right-hander Chris Archer (0-0, 2.16 ERA) will make his third start of the season for Minnesota. Archer is 4-2 with a 4.17 ERA in 10 games and nine career starts against the White Sox.

The Twins bring a three-game winning streak into the contest following Saturday’s victory, which saw them collect a season-high 14 hits.

Byron Buxton reached base five times while going 4-for-4 with a homer, double, two RBIs and three runs scored, while Luis Arraez had his fourth-career four-hit game (all singles) while driving in three runs.

Catcher Ryan Jeffers also homered, doubled and scored three runs.

“Awesome team win,” said starter Dylan Bundy, who improved to 3-0 after scattering four hits over five shutout innings. “We have some momentum going finally, and you can hear it up there; we’re excited. We’re hoping to keep it going tomorrow.”

–Field Level Media

C.J. Abrams scored from third on Austin Nola’s walk-off sacrifice fly to left in the bottom of the 10th Saturday night to give the host San Diego Padres a 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Abrams was on second to open the 10th and moved to third on pinch-hitter Trent Grisham’s sacrifice bunt. The rookie shortstop scored easily ahead of Chris Taylor’s throw to the plate.

The win snapped a 10-game Dodgers winning streak against the Padres.

Jurickson Profar saved the Padres in the top of the 10th, throwing out ghost runner Taylor at third trying to advance on a flyout by Gavin Lux. Padres reliever and winner Robert Suarez (1-1) then struck out Mookie Betts to end the inning.

Betts whiffed four times, including leaving the bases loaded in the second.

Left-hander Justin Bruihl (0-1), the seventh Dodgers pitcher, suffered the loss.

The Dodgers tied the game 2-2 in the top of the eighth on Trea Turner’s two-run, two-out double over the leaping Profar.

Taylor and Lux opened the inning on back-to-back singles against reliever Luis Garcia, who then struck out Betts. Closer Taylor Rogers came on to strike out Freddie Freeman before giving up the game-tying line drive to left.

The Padres scored their first run against Dodgers left-handed starter Tyler Anderson in the second. Profar led off the inning with a double into the left field corner, moved to third on Eric Hosmer’s groundout to first and scored on Wil Myers’ sacrifice fly to center.

Jake Cronenworth homered off Anderson an inning later to make it 2-0.

Padres starter Yu Darvish survived a shaky start to pitch six scoreless innings, retiring the final 13 Dodgers he faced. But he struggled to get through the first two innings — facing six full-count situations while throwing 58 pitches. Darvish issued one walk in the first. Then he loaded the bases in the second before striking out Betts.

Darvish allowed one hit and three walks with seven strikeouts. Anderson gave up two runs on four hits, with three walks and four strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings.

–Field Level Media

Chad Kuhl had an impressive home debut for the Colorado Rockies, but he could have done better.

He tossed six shutout innings in a 4-1 win over Philadelphia on Monday before leaving the game with tightness in his right hip and right flexor.

It was still enough to earn his first win of the season. Now, he’ll go for his second when Colorado wraps up a three-game series at the Detroit Tigers on Sunday.

The teams split a day-night doubleheader on Saturday, with Detroit winning the opener 13-0 and the Rockies taking the night game, 3-0.

The mood in Detroit should be less anticipatory for Sunday’s game. Slugger Miguel Cabrera got his 3,000th career hit in the first inning of Saturday’s first game to become the 33rd major-leaguer to reach that milestone.

“I’ve never been a part of any sort of big milestone,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “We just don’t know if we’re going to see another (3,000 hits) in our baseball lifetime or our whole lifetime.”

Cabrera has been a part of some great Detroit teams, which include a four-year run of winning the AL Central and reaching the World Series in 2012. The 2022 version is one that is still building, with plenty of young players and pitchers.

One of those young pitchers is scheduled to start Sunday afternoon. Tyler Alexander (0-1, 4.26 ERA) is making his third start of the season and the first of his career against Colorado.

Kuhl (1-0, 0.87) has made a good impression in his first two starts for the Rockies after signing with them in March. He has limited opponents to a .118 average and has allowed just two hits in each of his first two starts.

Despite leaving the win over the Phillies early, he is staying on schedule in the rotation.

Kuhl entered the season 25-30 in his career that started with Pittsburgh in 2016, the only year he finished with a winning record.

Colorado manager Bud Black gave him some pointers before the start of this season that Kuhl seems to be taking to heart and making the advice work.

“The thing that I’ve talked to him most about is, with his stuff, stay on the attack and stay in the strike zone or just right off,” Black said this week. “When you have big misses as a pitcher, a lot of times it’s harder to get back in the strike zone. If he can get to the point where his delivery and release point finish is near and around the plate, he’s going to stay near and around the plate.”

Kuhl has been impressive in the early going. He has surrendered just one run on four hits in 10 1/3 innings and fanned nine.

He will be facing the Tigers for the sixth time in his career and fifth as a starter. In his previous games against them he is 3-0 with a 4.37 ERA. His lone relief appearance against them came last year in Detroit.

–Field Level Media

Humberto Castellanos allowed two runs over five solid innings and earned his first win of the season Saturday night as the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the visiting New York Mets 5-2 in the middle game of a three-game series.

The Diamondbacks have won three of four. The Mets, who have yet to lose a series this season, lost for just the second time in seven games.

Castellanos (1-0) gave up four hits and one walk while striking out five. He retired nine in a row after walking leadoff batter Brandon Nimmo and didn’t allow anyone beyond first base until the fifth.

Dominic Smith laced a leadoff double and scored on a one-out triple by Jeff McNeil, who scored when Tomas Nido legged out an infield RBI single. But Castellanos wriggled out of the jam by getting Nimmo to line into a double play.

Noe Ramirez, Kyle Nelson, Ian Kennedy and Joe Mantiply combined on four innings of three-hit relief, with Mantiply earning his first big league save by tossing a perfect ninth.

The Diamondbacks scored all the runs they’d need in the first two innings against Trevor Williams (0-2), who was pressed into the spot start due to the Mets’ doubleheader against the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday.

Daulton Varsho led off the first with a single, went to third on David Peralta’s one-out single and scored when Peralta was forced at second on Christian Walker’s grounder.

Varsho’s one-out RBI single was the last of four straight singles in the second by the Diamondbacks, who went ahead 3-0 when Sergio Alcantara scored on Ketel Marte’s forceout.

Pavin Smith had an RBI double in the third and Peralta lofted a sacrifice fly in the sixth.

Varsho, Smith, Carson Kelly and Geraldo Perdomo all had two hits apiece for the Diamondbacks.

McNeil had two hits for the Mets.

Williams allowed four runs on seven hits with no walks or strikeouts in two innings.

–Field Level Media

The visiting San Francisco Giants go for a three-game sweep of the Washington Nationals on Sunday.

So far the Giants have benefitted from strong pitching — both from their starters and relievers — and multiple contributions on offense.

Starter Alex Wood turned in five strong innings Saturday before four relievers kept the Nationals scoreless the rest of the way to close out a 5-2 win.

Wood, who would have liked to go another inning, was not afraid to turn it over to a Giants bullpen that leads the majors with a 1.78 ERA.

“We’ve got a lot of good arms, and so any time I turn the ball over I feel pretty good about it, especially some of the guys we had rested today,” Wood said. “Just pass the baton and they did a great job shutting it down.”

Eight Giants combined for 10 hits, two of them on bunts against the shift by Mike Yastrzemski and Luis Gonzalez. San Francisco leads the majors with seven bunt hits.

“The players ultimately are seeing the defenses and how they’re lined up against them,” Giants manager Gabe Kapler said. “They want to take the opportunities when they feel like they can get a good pitch to bunt.”

The Giants will go for the sweep behind Logan Webb (1-1, 2.55), who last gave up three runs on six hits and three walks in 3 2/3 innings of a loss to the New York Mets.

Webb hadn’t taken a loss since last May 5, a stretch of 24 starts including the postseason that set a franchise record, breaking one held by Hall of Famer Carl Hubbell (22 starts). The Giants went 21-3 in those starts.

In Webb’s lone career start against Washington, he pitched three scoreless innings with one hit and four strikeouts in July 2019.

Washington looks to snap a four-game losing streak and has scored nine runs in its past five games.

On Saturday, Riley Adams hit his first homer of the season and Lane Thomas drove in a run to pull Washington within 5-2 in the fifth. The Nationals had two runners on in the sixth, but Austin Slater’s diving catch ended the rally.

Manager Dave Martinez moved Thomas to the leadoff spot, where he went 1-for-4. Cesar Hernandez was moved from first to sixth and went 2-for-4.

“I just want to see if we can jumpstart Lane a little bit,” Martinez said of the switch. “He did well for us in the leadoff spot. I talked to Cesar last night about letting him relax a little bit and not trying to put so much pressure on him trying to get on base and just swing the bat. And he did well today. I mean, they both did well.”

Two and three hitters Juan Soto (0-for-3) and Nelson Cruz (0-for-4) were hitless and Washington’s best hitter thus far, clean-up batter Josh Bell, left after the second inning with a right hamstring strain. He went for an MRI after the game.

Rookie right-hander Joan Adon (1-2, 5.87) starts the finale for Washington.

In his last start, he threw 6 1/3 shutout innings with five strikeouts and two walks in a win against the Diamondbacks.

“This kid, he’s bright and he pays attention,” Martinez said afterward. “Today, he was fun to watch, and it was fun to watch him compete.”

–Field Level Media

Blue Jays designated hitter George Springer didn’t hesitate to acknowledge the Astros fans who cheered him before his first plate appearance Saturday, his first in Houston following seven standout seasons with the Astros prior to his signing with Toronto following the 2020 season.

Springer hit his first home run against his former club, his third of the season and the 199th of his career as the Blue Jays claimed the three-game series with a 3-2 victory Saturday. Toronto improved to 4-0-1 in series this season and will seek the series sweep over Houston on Sunday.

“It’s pretty emotional,” Springer said of the leadoff homer, the 45th of his career. “I don’t really know how to explain it. It’s weird. It’s cool at the same time. But I’m just glad I can help us win.”

The Blue Jays improved to 4-1 on their six-game trip and have won 10 of their first 15 games for the eighth time in club history and the first time since 2018. A sweep would keep the good times rolling.

“It obviously would be big for us,” Springer said. “That’s a great baseball team over there, so to come in and win the first two is huge. But it’s on to (Sunday).”

Left-hander Yusei Kikuchi (0-1, 3.24 ERA) will start the series finale for the Blue Jays.

He faced the Astros six times last season while pitching for the Seattle Mariners, going 1-3 with a 5.64 ERA. He is 1-5 with a 6.00 ERA in 11 career starts against Houston, his most against any opponent.

Kikuchi allowed one run on three hits and three walks with three strikeouts over five innings in his previous outing on April 19, a 2-1 loss to the Boston Red Sox in which he did not factor into the decision. His two prior starts this season also were on the road.

Right-hander Luis Garcia (1-0, 2.79) is the scheduled starter for Houston on Sunday.

He faced the Blue Jays once during his rookie season in 2021, allowing one run on three hits and two walks with eight strikeouts over six innings in a 6-3 road victory on June 6.

Garcia earned the victory in his previous start on April 18, surrendering three runs on four hits and one walk with seven strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings in an 8-3 win over the Los Angeles Angels.

The Astros fell to 1-3 in one-run games and have dropped two in succession to open the series against the Blue Jays. After laboring through a season-opening nine-game trip, the Astros are just 1-4 on their first homestand of the season and will take a four-game skid into the finale.

“It’s frustrating to lose one-run games, especially when you’re getting good pitching,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said. “You’ve just got to keep on battling. That’s all you can do.”

–Field Level Media