Jared Jones fans 9 as Pirates edge Angels 1-0
Jared Jones struck out 9 over 6 shutout innings as the Pirates beat the Angels 1-0, running their record to 70-72 with a 4.5-game deficit in the NL Wild Card race and an elimination number of 3.
Jones strikes out 9 to blank the Angels
Jared Jones went 6.0 innings and allowed just 3 hits with 1 walk while striking out 9 as the Pirates beat the Los Angeles Angels 1-0. It was the kind of start that turns a low-scoring game into an easy one, and it kept Pittsburgh rolling: the Pirates are 4-1 in their last 5 games.
Angels1-0The win followed a series against the Giants in which Pittsburgh took 3 of 4 at PNC Park, a stretch that included a 13-12 slugfest, a 5-4 loss in 10 innings on September 2, and wins of 5-2 and 1-0. The Angels game was the only one of the five decided by a single run — and it was decided by Jones' arm, not the bats.
Third straight series win, longest of the year
The win capped Pittsburgh's third consecutive series win, its longest streak of the season, according to Alex Stumpf. At 70-72, the Pirates have won 4 of their last 5 — a stretch that has kept the club within shouting distance of the National League's third wild card spot even as September closes in.
The math is still tight. San Diego holds that final spot, with Arizona a half-game back and St. Louis and Miami both 3.5 games behind the Padres. Pittsburgh sits 4.5 games out with an elimination number of 3 — 3 losses or Padres wins away from being finished, whichever comes first. The Pirates have not run out of games, but they have very few of them left to work with.
Upcoming
Braxton Ashcraft (14-5, 3.59 ERA) starts for Pittsburgh as the Pirates host the Angels tonight, opposed by Yusei Kikuchi (0-5, 5.65 ERA). Ashcraft was solid in his last outing, allowing 2 earned runs over 5.0 innings in a win at St. Louis on August 30, while Kikuchi turned in his best start in a while the same day, striking out 6 over 7.0 innings against the Phillies despite taking the loss. Pittsburgh's bullpen will be without Kirby Yates, who went on the 15-day injured list on September 3 with a right shoulder impingement.
The market favors the Pirates, and the total points to a low-scoring game, in line with the pitching matchup: Ashcraft's ERA sits nearly 2 full runs below Kikuchi's, and Pittsburgh has already won a 1-0 game and a 5-2 game in the last week. For the total to clear, it likely takes the Angels' offense breaking through against a pitcher who has been hard to hit lately, or Pittsburgh's own bats — quiet in a run built mostly on arms — finally waking up.