Few teams are as eager to turn the calendar as the Pittsburgh Pirates, who endured a 10-game losing streak during a dismal August.
The Pirates will look to begin September on the right note when they visit the Cleveland Guardians in the rubber match of their three-game interleague series on Sunday afternoon.
Pittsburgh (63-72) evened the series with a 3-0 victory on Saturday. Luis Ortiz and three relievers combined on a two-hitter, and Rowdy Tellez singled in two runs to help the Pirates snap a four-game losing streak.
Nick Gonzales had three hits and scored twice for Pittsburgh, which went 8-19 in August.
“I think it’s a good way to end August, because we’ve had a challenging August, a little bit, about putting up zeros,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “We need to build on that and finish strong.”
Pittsburgh outfielder Andrew McCutchen is batting .333 (17-for-51) with four home runs and 16 RBIs during a season-high 13-game hitting streak.
Cleveland (77-59) was shut out for the 14th time this season on Saturday, but Josh Naylor returned to the lineup after exiting Friday’s game with a left ankle contusion and doubled in four at-bats for the American League Central leaders.
Naylor is 7-for-14 with six RBIs over his last three games after struggling for much of August.
“Josh is swinging at better pitches now,” said Guardians manager Stephen Vogt. “Josh was getting pitches a lot down and away. A lot of changeups, a lot of off-speed out of the zone. He was expanding his strike zone, trying to make things happen. Now he’s gotten back to taking those pitches and driving the pitches that are up in the zone.”
Sunday’s matchup will feature a pair of right-handers as Cleveland’s Alex Cobb (1-1, 4.35 ERA) faces Pittsburgh’s Mitch Keller (11-8, 3.84).
Cobb is set to make his third start with the Guardians since being acquired from the San Francisco Giants on July 30.
The 36-year-old Cobb will make his first start since Aug. 14, when he allowed one run over 5 2/3 innings in a 6-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs. He then missed two starts with a nail fracture on his throwing hand.
Cobb was given the green light to return to the rotation after pitching a live bullpen session on Tuesday.
“Cobb did great,” Vogt said. “Stuff looked really good. No issues with the nail. So, really encouraging with Alex.”
Cobb is 0-1 with a 3.52 ERA in four career starts against Pittsburgh.
The Pirates hope for a bounce-back effort from Keller, who yielded three runs on seven hits over four innings in an 18-8 loss to the Cubs last Monday. Chicago recorded seven of its eight stolen bases while Keller was on the mound.
“Bad job on my part of holding them there,” Keller said after the game. “Just probably fell into rhythm, timing, pitch clock, whatever it might be.
“They just had a good game plan with when they were gonna go and test us out. They destroyed us (Monday), destroyed me, personally. Just not good.”
Keller is 0-1 with a 7.36 ERA in two career starts vs. Cleveland.
–Field Level Media
