Things are back to not looking good for the defending champs, who are continuing to cancel out the good five-game winning streak they had earlier in the month. They will enter Friday’s contest having lost six of of their last eight games, while also allowing five or more runs six times during that span.
Such a trend continues on various pitching stats. The 13 hits they gave up to the New York Mets on Wednesday was the fourth time in the past week where opponents were able to post 10 or more hits in a game, and their 4.20 ERA in the game was the 15th time in their last 16 outings where it was 4.00 or higher.
Projected starter Eddie Butler will be hoping to move away from those trends, although he himself is having a shaky campaign. The 26-year-old is 3-2 with a 4.03 ERA in six starts this season.
As for the offense, the hot-and-cold duo of Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo are doing decent as of late. They combine to be 14-for-45 in the past week, with four homers and seven RBIs. The unheralded Albert Amora Jr., meanwhile, has six hits in just 13 at-bats in the same stretch.
The Cubbies are 2-4 against the Pirates this season.
The Pirates had their four-game losing streak snapped on Wednesday, as they almost got blanked by the Colorado Rockies, 5-1. They only went 6-for-31 on the plate.
Still, there shouldn’t be big concerns on the Pirates locker room. Their batting was on point prior to yesterday’s forgettable performance; they just had a stretch where they blasted 10 or more hits nine out of 11 games (May 31st to June 12th), which also saw them compile a .300 batting average.
Andrew McCutchen, Jordy Mercer, Josh Harrison, Josh Bell, and David Freese are all hitting above .320 in the past week, with 16 runs and 18 RBIs.
The starting pitcher duties will be shouldered by Trevor Williams, who’s 3-3 with a 5.13 ERA in 13 appearances this season. He should be able to have a better outing than his previous start, where he surrendered five runs on six hits in just four innings.
