Series Preview: Seattle Mariners at Pittsburgh Pirates
I used to be shocked that the Mariners had been in a position to win one in every of their video games towards that trio of lefty starters the Red Sox rolled out final weekend. That win on Sunday wrapped up a 3-3 homestand and pushed the staff one other recreation forward of their division rivals. Now the staff embarks on a midwest street journey by means of Pittsburgh and Cleveland.
With a ton of younger expertise enrolling into the large leagues and a beginning rotation anchored by Paul Skenes, the Pirates seemed poised to interrupt out of their lengthy rebuilding cycle this 12 months. They truly spent cash on just a few free brokers within the offseason and traded for some extra expertise to bolster the lineup. They had been rewarded with a fast begin to the season, working a 16-11 report by means of April 25. They’ve fallen again in the direction of .500 since then, though they’re nonetheless within the thick of the NL Wild Card hunt.
The Pirates signed Ryan O’Hearn to the most important free agent contract for a participant place in franchise historical past this offseason. That’s fairly unbelievable from an organizational standpoint and that it ended up being O’Hearn who set that report. To his credit score, O’Hearn has been a stable first baseman and nook outfielder for the previous three years and he is been simply pretty much as good for the Pirates this season, rocking a 115 wRC+. They additionally traded for Brandon Lowe and that has labored out splendidly; he is main the staff in house runs with a 126 wRC+. Among the holdovers from final 12 months, Bryan Reynolds has bounced again from a dismal season in 2025 to guide the staff with a 145 wRC+. Unfortunately for the Pirates, younger phenom Konnor Griffin has been sidelined with a forearm harm for the previous month.
Mitch Keller has been a stable, if uninspiring mid-rotation starter for the final 5 years. He’s additionally been extremely constant at that point; his FIP hasn’t rise above 4.08 and hasn’t fall beneath 3.80. Despite that consistency, his peripherals look the worst they have been since 2021; his strikeout charge has fallen to 18.4% and his stroll charge has jumped as much as 8.8%. Only some good house run luck has allowed him to maintain his FIP inside that vary talked about above. He’s at all times been a tinkerer, and this 12 months, he is reintroduced a cutter to his repertoire. The actual difficulty is that his different two fastballs have been crushed by opposing batters and the remainder of his secondary pitches have not been in a position to make up the distinction.
Between Paul Skenes, Konnor Griffin, and a bunch of different high prospects on the Pirates roster, it has been straightforward to miss Braxton Ashcraft. He was a high prospect in his personal proper and had a powerful debut season final 12 months, compiling a 2.71 ERA and a couple of.78 FIP in 18 aid appearances and eight begins. The Pirates had been fairly cautious along with his workload final 12 months however have given him a full-time position within the beginning rotation this 12 months and he is run with the chance. He’s received a pair of fantastic breaking balls that greater than make up for the shortage of a powerful fastball. Nearly half of his pitch combine is made up of these breaking balls, and their high quality is such that he would not really want an offspeed pitch to maintain left-handed batters at bay. He can simply spin a curveball or bury a slider to a lefty and generate sufficient swing and miss to thrive.
Among the non-Skenes pitching prospects in Pittsburgh’s pipeline, Bubba Chandler had essentially the most hype. And whereas Ashcraft is having the kind of season we anticipated from Chandler, Chandler in all probability has the upper ceiling as soon as he absolutely develops. An absence of command is the most important space he wants to deal with — a difficulty that is led to a 13.1% stroll charge this 12 months. His fastball is improbable with velocity and carry at the highest of the zone. His great arm pace helps his changeup actually play up, though he is nonetheless engaged on growing his trio of breaking balls. Once he figures out his command and finds a bit extra consistency, he’ll be a high of the rotation arm for the Pirates. Until then, he is a work-in-progress.
The Rangers managed to climb again right into a tie with the Athletics after successful their weekend sequence towards the Padres and successful the primary recreation of a sequence towards the Marlins yesterday night time. For their half, the Athletics wound up splitting their four-game sequence towards the Angels final weekend and can begin a three-game set towards the Giants tonight. The Astros are additionally lurking at 3.5 video games again within the division; they gained their sequence towards the Guardians over the weekend however dropped the primary recreation of their sequence towards the Blue Jays yesterday.
