Giants at Pirates, 8:07PM ET, TV: ESPN
The Giants send out Madison Bumgarner and his 18-10, 2.98 ERA to face the Pirates’ Edinson Volquez, who was 13-7 with a 3.04 ERA during the regular season. Bumgarner only faced the Pirates once this season and it was a forgettable outing. On July 28 he gave up five earned runs on six hits in four innings. Volquez (who was briefly a Dodger last season, you may recall) didn’t face the Giants this season, and he’s had minimal success against them over the past few years: he’s winless in nine starts against the Giants since beating them twice in 2008. He’s had a renaissance this season with the Pirates, though.
The Pirates have the second-best home record in all of baseball: they’re 51-30, one back of the Angels’ 52-29. To counter that, the Giants’ Bumgarner has an 11-4 record and a 2.22 ERA in 18 starts away from AT&T Park.
For further discussion of the matchups, I again refer you to Bleacher Report. That’s the same post I linked to yesterday; just scroll down to see the National League discussion.
NPUT
Good news on Ryu
http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/mlb/story/_/id/11625903/hyun-jin-ryu-los-angeles-dodgers-throws-simulated-game
That is good news.
Oh fer cryin’ out loud. A grand slam? To Brendon Crawford?
I’ve never heard a stadium go so quiet so quickly as PNC Park just did.
Because it never gets old: http://media.fyre.co/J5mOuY3T8GQlP1YJ9n0Q_anigif_pablo-sandoval-loves-cake-25151-1274134928-150.gif