Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander Joe Musgrove has been kept waiting for his first start of the season, and now he has a tough act to follow.
Musgrove, whose spot in the rotation was skipped when the Pirates-Reds game on March 30 was rained out, volunteered to pitch in relief, and he threw two shutout innings after Trevor Williams went the first six on Sunday in the Pirates’ 5-0 win at Cincinnati.
The 26-year-old right-hander will take the mound on Friday against the visiting Reds on the heels of another shutout. Jordan Lyles and three relievers blanked Cincinnati 2-0 Thursday in the first game of a four-game series in Pittsburgh.
“I just wanted to pitch,” Musgrove said of his relief outing, his first in that role since Game 6 of the 2017 World Series while with the Houston Astros. “You prepare all week for a start day. To have it completely taken away would have sucked. I’m glad I got to go out there and at least get some work in.”
Musgrove, in his fourth season in the majors, has a career record against the Reds of 1-1 with a 5.68 ERA. Both decisions came last season.
Musgrove will face a Reds team known for decent hitting and poor pitching but early this season has demonstrated the opposite.
Cincinnati has lost five consecutive games, three of them shutouts, and is hitting a majors-worst .164. It took until Thursday’s loss for two of their outfielders, Jesse Winker and Scott Schebler, to get their first hits, after going 0-for-15 and 0-for-18, respectively.
After Winker’s hit, he went so far as to gesture as if he wanted to preserve the baseball, typically done after a player’s first major league hit.
Not that the Pirates have been tearing the cover off the ball in starting the season 2-3. Even after getting 10 hits on Thursday, they’re still hitting only .227, and left fielder Corey Dickerson, who hit .300 with 13 home runs last season, went on the injured list Thursday with a strained right (throwing) shoulder.
“It’s better to take care of it now and be able to help the team for as many months as I can at 100 percent than try to manipulate and let it linger and not help the team as much as I want,” said Dickerson, who won a Gold Glove last year.
One person who won’t miss facing Dickerson is Reds right-hander Sonny Gray (0-1, 6.75 ERA), who will oppose Musgrove (0-0, 0.00) on Friday. In 19 at-bats against Gray, Dickerson has only five hits, but two were home runs.
While the Reds’ hitters have failed to produce, their pitchers have posted a surprisingly strong 2.89 ERA.
The only weak link among their starters has been Gray’s one start — against the Pirates — when he lasted only 2 2/3 innings, allowing five hits and three runs (two earned). He walked four, didn’t strike out anyone, and the unearned run came as a result of his error.
“I didn’t make an adjustment,” Gray said about his season debut. “I felt like early in the game I got to two strikes OK. I got ahead. I went from 0-2 to 3-2 numerous times. I went from 1-2 to 3-2 numerous times. …
“On days when my put-away stuff might not be there, I’ve got to figure out a way to pitch.”
Gray is 0-2 with a 7.59 ERA in his career against the Pirates. His only other start against them was July 1, 2016, when he gave up seven runs in six innings as a member of the Oakland Athletics.
Gray went 5-11 that season and finished with a career-worst 5.69 ERA.