The Milwaukee Brewers and Pittsburgh Pirates are scheduled to play a doubleheader today after a rainout Friday, with fans now looking for the new game times, weather conditions and the reason why the teams are playing the twin bill.
So, here’s why the Brewers and Pirates are playing two games today, along with first-pitch times, the latest weather forecast and any schedule updates.
PNC Park hosts a split doubleheader Saturday, with the makeup of Friday’s rained-out opener starting at 12:05 p.m. ET and the regularly scheduled second game following at 4:05 p.m., gates opening around 11 a.m.
Pittsburgh Pirates, Milwaukee Brewers Set Doubleheader
Pittsburgh and Milwaukee starters went out to warm up Friday as scheduled, and the first pitch was pushed back only 10 minutes before the tarp reappeared with more rain on the way. The game was officially postponed at 8:10 p.m., amid heavy downpours across the city. Friday’s scheduled fireworks show still went on.
Whether the Pirates needed to scrap the whole night is a separate matter. Weather-tracking posts from meteorologist Kevin Roth flagged stretches of dry conditions around the original first-pitch window, and a follow-up post questioned the timing of the call given improving conditions later in the evening. Teams generally err toward caution once a tarp comes off and on more than once, and this one stayed off for good.
This marked Pittsburgh’s sixth game affected by rain this season, according to Sports Illustrated‘s Dominic Campbell, though it’s the club’s first outright postponement. The Pirates sit five games back in the National League Wild Card chase, and there isn’t much margin left to burn on a rainout redo.
The St. Louis Cardinals, Washington Nationals and Arizona Diamondbacks are all bunched within a game and a half of Pittsburgh, and the San Diego Padres are right there as well, which means every game this weekend, split doubleheader or not, is a big one when it comes to the playoff chase.
Ashcraft, Sproat Lead Doubleheader Pitching Matchups
Game 1 is expected to pit Pirates right-hander Braxton Ashcraft, an All-Star at 9-3 with a 3.24 ERA, against Brewers rookie Brandon Sproat, who carries a more down-to-earth 3-4 record and 5.13 ERA overall despite a sharp recent stretch in which he’s posted a 1.76 ERA and 0.98 WHIP with a high strikeout rate across his last three outings. Game 2 turns to Milwaukee left-hander Shane Drohan, sitting at 4-2 with a tidy 2.97 ERA, opposite Pittsburgh’s Bubba Chandler, who is 3-8 with a 4.82 ERA.
Chandler’s last look at Milwaukee, produced nine runs allowed in under three innings, according to The Associated Press. Not the kind of history a team wants resurfacing before a getaway-day nightcap.
Weather should behave better than Friday’s did, at least for a while. PNC Park is expecting scattered showers and thunderstorms mainly after 2 p.m., with a high near 84 and early fog burning off ahead of first pitch. That window sits squarely inside Game 1, while Game 2 should see calmer skies and a low near 64 overnight.
Two games in one day means two bullpens getting stretched thin, and Pittsburgh’s relief corps was already shorthanded, with reliever Wilber Dotel on the 15-day injured list. Milwaukee, seven and a half games clear of Chicago atop the National League Central standings, can afford to manage workloads more conservatively than a Pirates team fighting for October.
Assuming the two teams get Saturday’s doubleheader in without more interference from Mother Nature, on Sunday the teams head into the All-Star break with a high-octane pitching matchup of Milwaukee’s 10-4 Jacob Misiorowski with his 1.62 ERA, 0.76 WHIP and 167 strikeouts in just 111 innings, against reigning National League Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes, who comes in at 7-8 and 3.58 with a 1.04 WHIP and 123 strikeouts in 103 innings.
But first, on Saturday, the Brewers and Pirates must get through 18 innings, at least, of playoff-race baseball
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