Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Philadelphia Phillies (7:05 pm ET, FSN)
Pittsburgh Pirates will try its best to tie the series in Game 2 (7:05pm ET, FSN) against Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday, at Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia. Phillies leads the series by 1-0. The Pirates have 16-22 home, 7-13 away record whereas the Phillies have 24-13 away, 11-6 home record.
Philadelphia Phillies get another weapon in their team’s lineup. Jimmy Rollins has returned after five weeks. At Citizens Bank Park, in Roy Halladay’s first three starts, he was nearly untouchable. When the Phillies try to complete a brief two-game sweep of the Pirates, he will look to improve to 4-0. With flu-like symptoms, Monday’s opener against Pittsburgh was missed by Chase Utley. Rollins did a great job and hardly looked rusty even though he was on DL with a strained calf. He had two hits and an RBI. Manager Charlie Manuel has to do some shuffling in the lineup with Utley’s return.
For the ninth time, the Pittsburgh Pirates were held to five hits or fewer. Andrew McCutchen went 0 for 4 and it lowered his average this month to .396. The rest of the team is hitting .211. On Pittsburgh’s rotation, even more pressure was put on because of that lack of production. With a 2.37 ERA, the left-hander Zach Duke (2-4, 5.56) was 2-0, through his first four starts. In a 5-0 loss to Cincinnati, on Wednesday, Duke over his five innings gave up five runs and nine hits, two homers. In four career starts versus Philadelphia, Duke is 1/3 with a 4.78 ERA. In 19 combined at-bats (.211), he has held Utley and Rollins to four hits. The team’s two RBIs leaders, Werth and Victorino, with three extra-base hits combined 6 for 10 against Duke and that makes for some pretty fine betting.
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