Pirates vs. Astros Preview: Skenes vs. McCullers Showdown

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00:00Skeens and his Pirates, a home favorite today against Lance McCullers and the Astros.

00:06Total stands at seven and a half.

00:09Can Pittsburgh win a start with Skeens on the bump?

00:13Should be able to hold him down.

00:14And by the way, quick note there on Jack Caglione.

00:16This isn't one of those like, hey, kid, get up there for the weekend.

00:18Fill in for somebody.

00:19We're going to pull you right back down.

00:20This is expected to be if it goes as well as you think.

00:22He doesn't ever go back to the minor league baseball.

00:24So if you want to make that, oh, well, he missed the first two months.

00:27So he's going to get the final four months, it looks like, unless he's a disaster.

00:30And if he is a disaster, you weren't going to win that ticket anyway.

00:32So you could be betting confidently that way.

00:35Let's take a look at Paul Skeens today.

00:36Back to being electric on the mound.

00:38No surprise here.

00:39His last 128 batters over the past 30 days.

00:41Ben, how about an 043 ISO against and a weighted on base percentage of 213 and a K rate of 28%.

00:47The lineup for the Astros is waking up just a bit with hitting right-handed pitchers,

00:51but they don't factor all that well.

00:53Isak Paredes has some great numbers against right-handed pitching.

00:55Jeremy Pena as well.

00:57After that, Cam Smith, Victor Caratini, Mauricio Dubon doesn't leave a lot to be desired in that lineup,

01:03but also 79-degree temperatures in Pittsburgh in early June and a light wind blowing in from right field.

01:09So it shouldn't really hamper any of the bats here.

01:11Lance McCullers going on it, going through it, I should say, on the field and off the field,

01:16where I think they finally caught the guy that was overseas making the threats there to his family and kids.

01:20So maybe he can rest a little bit easier on the mound tonight,

01:23but he has struggled against right-handed pitching on the, excuse me, right-handed hitting on the season.

01:27Here's the issue.

01:28Again, it's not a great hitting lineup here for the Pittsburgh Pirates all the way through.

01:32Like O'Neal Cruz, he's like, Donnie, just put him in your lineup on a night-to-night basis.

01:35Well, he's got a 40% strikeout rate against right-handed pitching.

01:38And take a look at Lance McCullers.

01:39The one thing he's done well this season, a 105 ISO and a 252 weighted on base percentage and a K rate of 41%.

01:47So picture this.

01:48He's got a K rate of 41% of lefties.

01:50And O'Neal Cruz against right-handed pitching strikes out 40% of the time.

01:53And what are we saying?

01:54Like O'Neal Cruz might not even get a foul ball tonight off of Lance McCullers.

01:57So as much as I love O'Neal Cruz, that's not a great matchup for him tonight.

02:01And we'll see how it pans out.

02:02Even though you hate to see him wasting 79-degree temperatures in Pittsburgh,

02:06he's probably going to stay under today.

02:07We'll see you next time.

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