After two straight losses in which the Phillies’ offense manhandled Pirates pitching, the Bucs turned to some young arms (and young bats) to earn a split of their four-game series in Philadelphia. Jared Jones and Carmen Mlodzinski threw shutdown baseball yesterday and Esmerlyn Valdez and Nick Gonzalez shone at the plate.
Joe Block has the story.
The Pirates move on to Washington to take on another high-powered offensive team in the Nationals, and tonight they face a tough pitching matchup, with Mitch Keller (6-5, 4.87 ERA) throwing against left-hander Foster Griffin (8-2, 2.93 ERA). Airtime is 6:20, with the first pitch at 6:45 on WCCS.
Outfielder Dominic Fletcher exercised an opt-out clause in his contract on Wednesday, the first day he was eligible. He hit .283 with 7 home runs and 26 RBIs in 41 games at Indianapolis. He signed with the Pirates last December after having played parts of three seasons in the majors with the Diamondbacks and White Sox.
