The Pittsburgh Pirates close their seven-game road trip Sunday in Boston with a sweep of the Red Sox their goal.
The Pirates have amassed double-digit hits in back-to-back games, and their starting rotation has done well to help a streak of eight wins in 10 games, including 4-2 on their road trip through St. Louis and Boston.
“We talk about it every day: find a way to get better,” manager Don Kelly said. “And I think that this road trip, going into St. Louis — and obviously wish we would have won (that) series — but to split there and then come face a Red Sox team at home with a bunch of young guys that maybe haven’t played in Fenway, the way that they responded, just really proud of the way we’ve been playing.”
Nick Gonzales and Bryan Reynolds each had two RBIs, Spencer Horwitz had two hits and Oneil Cruz homered to help the Pirates on Saturday.
With the sweep on the line, Mitch Keller (6-12, 4.35 ERA) will pitch for the Pirates after he struck out a season-high nine across six innings to help beat the St. Louis Cardinals 8-3 last Tuesday.
Keller had allowed 11 runs on 15 hits in his previous two starts (7 1/3 innings).
“I felt a lot better than I have the last few weeks,” Keller said following his last outing. “It felt good to fill up the zone and I feel like I executed more in two-strike counts than I have in a long time.”
Keller has faced the Red Sox three times in his career, going 1-2 with a 5.40 ERA.
The Pirates lineup could have a new face in it on Sunday, as infielder Cam Devanney, a native of New Hampshire, was called up from Triple-A Indianapolis after Ronny Simon was placed on the injured list with a dislocated shoulder. Devanney, 28, has yet to make his major league debut.
Boston is looking to turn around some sour home play of late. The Red Sox have lost consecutive games after winning seven of eight games on the road against the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles.
The Red Sox will hand the ball on Sunday to Lucas Giolito (9-2, 3.47), who dealt eight innings for the second time this month en route to a 5-0 Tuesday shutout at Baltimore. Giolito limited the Orioles to four hits and struck out eight, which marks his second-highest total of the season.
The 30-year-old Giolito is 1-0 with a 4.94 ERA in five career starts against Pittsburgh, but this will be his first since April 2023 when he was a member of the Chicago White Sox.
Safe to say, with the team’s American League East deficit remaining at 3 1/2 games behind the Toronto Blue Jays, the Red Sox will be looking for a big start from Giolito in the series finale.
“I’m having a blast right now with these guys,” Giolito said. “Every single game matters. So it just kind of adds that extra edge each time you take the ball, especially the way our rotation has been going. It adds extra motivation to keep up and keep putting up good performances.”