Pirates beat Giants 5-2, win 3rd straight series
Pittsburgh closed out the Giants 5-2 for its 3rd straight series win as Kirby Yates went on the 15-day IL and Konnor Griffin neared a return, ahead of tonight's opener against the Angels.
3 straight series wins, the longest run of the year
The Pirates beat the Giants 5-2 on September 3 to close out the series, their 3rd straight series win — the longest streak they've put together this season, per Alex Stumpf.
Giants13-12Giants4-5Giants5-2It started with an emphatic 13-12 win on September 1, a back-and-forth game Foul Territory TV called a walk-off after the Giants had rallied from 12-7 down to tie it in the 8th. The Pirates then lost the middle game 5-4 in 10 innings on September 2 — 'one of those games you have to win if you want your playoff odds to get above 1 or 2 percent,' Stumpf wrote. Lake Bachar threw 2.1 scoreless innings in relief across the series, allowing no hits and striking out 3 against 2 walks.
The win pushed Pittsburgh to 69-72, but the club is still 5 games back of the final NL Wild Card spot with an elimination number of 4.
Recent News
Kirby Yates went on the 15-day injured list Thursday with a right shoulder impingement, a fresh loss for a bullpen that's about to see the Angels for the first time this weekend.
There's better news on the position-player side: Konnor Griffin (finger) is expected to be activated from the 60-day IL Friday, according to Kevin Gorman of TribLive.com, and Ryan O'Hearn (quadriceps) is aiming to return from the 10-day IL in time for the Pirates' September 11-13 series against the Cubs, per Gorman.
Separately, the Pirates signed Kyler Fedko, who is rehabbing a torn ACL, to a minor-league deal after the Twins released him this week, per Aaron Gleeman.
Upcoming
The Pirates host the Angels tonight, with Jared Jones (2-6, 4.83 ERA) starting for Pittsburgh against Los Angeles' Ryan Johnson (3-7, 5.47 ERA). Jones was rocked for 7 hits and 3 earned runs over 4.2 innings in a loss to the Cardinals on August 28, while Johnson went 5 innings against the Phillies on August 29, allowing just 1 earned run but walking 5 without factoring into the decision.
Pittsburgh is favored at home, and the total reads as middling for a matchup between two shaky rotations — neither starter has an ERA under 4.80. If the price is right, it says the market expects both bullpens, not the men on the mound, to decide it.