Let’s take a look at the projected pitching matchups for the series against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Friday, September 10, RHP Josiah Gray (0-2, 5.65 ERA) vs. LHP Steven Brault (0-3, 5.61 ERA) | First Pitch: 6:35 pm
First, up for Washington will be the rookie Josiah Gray who is looking to bounce back after two straight rough outings. In those last two starts, Gray pitched a total of seven innings and gave up 12 earned runs. Gray will need to return to his previous form where he was pounding the strike zone and attacking hitters to have a successful outing on Friday night.
The first guy facing the Nationals is lefty Steven Brault. He has only made six starts in 2021, all of them since August 4th. His longest outing was 5.2 innings against the Dodgers on August 16th and has four starts with less than five innings. After a solid start, giving up four runs in his first four starts, Brault has given up five and seven runs in his last two starts respectively. Brault has four appearances against Washington with an ERA of 7.84.
The game can be seen on MASN and heard on 106.7, the Fan.
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Saturday, September 11, LHP Patrick Corbin (7-14, 6.14 ERA) vs. RHP Wil Crowe (3-7, 5.94 ERA) | First Pitch: 6:35 pm
Corbin gets the call for the second game of the season after a solid start last time against the Mets. Corbin managed seven innings for only the third time in 2021 and gave up three runs. This comes after an August where Corbin had an ERA of 7.88 in six starts. Corbin has nine appearances against the Pirates with a record of 3-2 and an ERA of 3.19.
Wil Crowe gets the nod for the second game and will take on his former team for the first time. He has been fairly inconsistent on the season but has had stretches where he had good outings. However, since August, Crowe has an ERA of 7.46 in 25 innings pitched. His previous outing was against the Cubs on September 5th where he gave up seven runs in an 11-8 loss for the Pirates.
Sunday, September 12 LHP Paolo Espino (4-4, 4.35 ERA) vs. RHP Bryse Wilson (2-6, 4.60 ERA) | First Pitch: 1:05 pm
For the final game of the series, the Nationals are pitching Paolo Espino. While Espino has had a solid season, he has had some ups and downs lately, most notably the last outing where he gave up five runs in five innings to the Braves. Paolo has pitched against the Pirates this season in June where he threw five shutout innings. In his career, Espino has pitched 7.2 innings against Pittsburgh, giving up no runs in the process.
The third and final game of the series will feature the 23-year-old right-hander Bryse Wilson for Pittsburgh. He was acquired from the Braves at the trade deadline and has made six starts since then. In that time, he has pitched 31 innings with an ERA of 4.35. Wilson has been able to give the Pirates decent innings, going five or more innings in five out of six starts for them. Wilson has pitched one inning against Washington previously where he gave up two earned runs while facing seven batters in 2020.
Series Notes: Pittsburgh Pirates
- At 50-90 at the writing of this, the Pirates are 35.5 games back in the NL Central of the Brewers.
- The Pirates are 8-11 in their last 17 games.
- Left Fielder Bryan Reynolds leads the Pirates in five major hitting categories: average, hits, home runs, RBI, and OBP.
- The Pirates team ERA is 5.09 and they only have two pitchers with more than 100 innings.
