The Pittsburgh Pirates (8-5) take on the St Louis Cardinals (5-8) in the second game of a four-game series on Friday night at Busch Stadium.
The Pirates are sending out Johan Oviedo (1-0, 3.18) for his third start. He will be going up against right-hander Jake Woodford (0-2, 9.00) in his third start.
First pitch is 8:15 PM. Lineups will be posted below once they become available.
UPDATE: Connor Joe is in the lineup now
Ji Man Choi has been scratched from the lineup due to left posterior ankle discomfort. He is currently being evaluated and treated.
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) April 14, 2023
**Austin Hedges and Robert Stephenson have both returned to the Pirates.
**Today’s Pirates Prospects Daily looks at injuries impacting the Indianapolis rotation.
**Today’s Prospect Watch is up. Four games are on the schedule tonight, with some big pitching prospects on the mound.
**One of those pitchers going today is Thomas Harrington. Anthony Murphy takes a closer look at his debut here.
**We posted about a mock draft from Prep Baseball Report. Their list should look very familiar to those who have been following our draft coverage this year.
**If any more news pops up tonight, we will post it here.
UMPIRE SCORECARD
Pirates got some good calls last night (see impactful calls section), but overall it was a rough game for the home plate umpire
Umpire: Dan Merzel
Final: Pirates 5, Cardinals 0#LetsGoBucs // #STLCards#PITvsSTL // #STLvsPITMore stats for this game 👇https://t.co/ypI6WVXe5B pic.twitter.com/iIsUsjI10g
— Umpire Scorecards (@UmpScorecards) April 14, 2023
TODAY’S LINEUPS
Pirates
Game 2 vs. the Cardinals.
📺 AT&T SportsNet
📻 93.7 The Fan | The PRN #LetsGoBucs pic.twitter.com/XP6IvSF7g8— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) April 14, 2023
Cardinals
Friday night under the lights! pic.twitter.com/79yjfBOY9r
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) April 14, 2023
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball.
When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.
Well the Pirates record is as good as the Yankees.
As much as i dont like the underwood choice, cant win if we dont score and we just couldnt get the timely hit
No one, especially relievers (failed starters) are gonna be on every time. But to your point, exactly, can’t win without scoring a run.
Winnable game but the predictably bad lineup tonight was unfair to Oviedo who on the plus side looked masterful. Offense right now looks like it lives & dies by what Bae does – that’s too much to put on a rookie. Our lefty hitters look truly awful against lefty pitching – so it was a great managerial move by Cards bringing in Thompson in 6th to shut us down instead of that starter’s junk ball luck running out. Too many automatic outs in our lineup. I can’t help but think Marcano would be a better, peskier version of Mathias and yes delay has a bit of a Jacobs stallings vibe this year (Delay class A obp in ’17 and ’18 were .345 and .325 respectively, also popped 8 HRs in 231 abs the following year in Altoona ) .
Also on the plus side, another great game from BAM: Born Again McCutchen
It’s hard for this team to score when Reynolds struggles, especially with Cruz out.
Underwood should absolutely not be pitching in leverage, despite how good he looked yesterday. Holdermann should be in or even bednar since this was the meat of their lineup
Get this effing bum out of here.
Yep this is the Underwood Jr I know
I’m not a fan of Underdog because he is so volatile and just like last night he pitched great for a inning but his track record should tell you that you got him in his good moment. But Shelton thinks “hey I got this managing thing”.
nobody on the bench healthy
What is with Cardinals and robbing Cutch’s hits?!
#CDM
Pitcher’s win/loss stats doesn’t really matter but Oviedo really does not deserve a L
And that’s why they aren’t a good barometer of a Pitcher’s performance.
And the only reason I have a problem with that is as we grew up playing baseball pitcher wins were always a team effort. Now that every thing about the game is based on so many things other than what we are actually seeing I wonder what we are really missing!
He was nasty tonight. Awesome outing.
I think it’s safe to say Oviedo has taken his opportunity to join the rotation after Bru’s untimely injury, and ran with it like a Roadrunner!
#BeepBeep
I expected Contreras to pitch like this and Oviedo to pitch like current ver. of Contreras. I do not know baseball
If you did you would be a very rich person!
10 strikeouts in 7 innings and threw 93 pitches. His pitches definitely have been nasty
10th K atta boy!
Reynolds had a pitch to hit and just didn’t time it up. Bummer.
Hell of a job Oviedo, hell of a job. Looked confident in doing so!
He’s back out?
Still dealing.
heck yeah he was!
He threw 83 pitches and a lot of great ones and I don’t care what happens now but put him in the barn and let him get ready for his next run.
Cardinals Devil Magic plus DS’s affinity for playing players out of position is going to equal a loss. 🤬🤬🤬
All I have is gameday so I don’t know which of the several players he is playing out of position you are referring to, lol. I saw it was an earned run but that means nothing with todays scorekeepers.
Connor Joe at 1B in this case. He dropped a grounder which if he fielded cleanly is either a DP or a runner on 1B.
Thanks I appreciate the info
Only problem is, he had Delay and Hayes as the only other options besides a pitcher. Santana has an issue with his hand after last nights play at the plate and Choi was scratched due to an ankle issue today. Who else plays first tonight that would not have been out of position? Wonder if another move will happen before tomorrow’s game to get someone who can at least play the position defensively if neither Choi or Santana can play.
What a bummer.
meh – we´ll come back
have to score to win
Just for fun, check the Cards’ rotation so far this year and imagine being the StL FO guy who last July said, “Let’s give them Oviedo.”
still mad we dont have Mikolas
he is my second favorite non-pirate
id take him off their hands in a minute
whoosh
dude is looking good
Cutch should be 2 for 2.
Only explanation the Pirates haven’t scored yet off this guy is Cardinals Devil Magic.
And the ump
Is there a difference?
That was some impressive pitching by Oviedo against Contreras, Gorman, and O’Neil. Way to bear down young man!
Nice comeback by Oviedo. Got out of that jam in style.
Big time domination
Stick it in them and break it off, big guy!
Terrible decision to send CSN there. The ball was already to the infield as he was rounding 3rd. There’s aggressiveness and stupidity.and that was the latter.
I disagree because of Hedges being on deck. Then he rips a lead off double to make me eat some crow.
If the Pirates win tonight, there should be a lot of people here eating some crow 🙂
Once again Suwinski “jusssst missed it.” But peripherals keep saying he “should” have hit it so he must be really good, right? I can still remember the days when results mattered.
Love Mathias’ arm on that double play turn……
Sadly, Hedges is still Hedges. There is no level of defense that makes it worth playing such a horrific hitter.
He heard you & hit a double 😄
He needs to listen a whole lot more.
There might be if the other 8 guys in the lineup could all rake but 3 other Pirate starters tonight are also hitting well below .200. Basically it’s 5 Pirate hitters versus 9 Cardinal hitters. All you analytic people out there do your thing and figure out how well that’s gonna work.
They don’t have a catcher who can hit. You’re going to have to live with Hedges until they decide Endy is ready.
Delay is bad, but he’s easily better than Hedges. Don’t underestimate just how awful the guy is.
All the prediction systems say they are the same hitter, .200/.250/.300. Also looked at Reese McGuire, and he is actually a little better.
He’s not gonna win you too many games
I’m give up. The logic behind Shelton’s playing of Choi and Santana has been impossible to understand, but at minimum I would think you would never bench them BOTH. What the actual f$&)!
We don’t have any other real 1st baseman.
It’s egregious malpractice!
They said Choi was a late scratch, didn’t hear why. Santana tweaked the wrist last night sliding at home, Contreras knelt down it
Maybe don’t over-analyze who is active or not a week or two into the season. Lordy…
I’ll give it a pass because it really is an imaginative lineup.
Mathias….UFB
He breaks out tonight. Couple good hits. . . . or he’s eating dinner at Harry & Izzy’s next week.
I’m not holding my breath, lol
I imagine he knows better than anyone that he’s only going to get so many AB’s before the trap door opens if he doesn’t start producing. Same with Suwinski
Do the Pirates actually have a pitching matchup advantage tonight? Probably not if lineups are considered.
Vince plowed the road last night. Now Oviedo needs to show the Cardinals there’s a new sheriff in town. A couple three run home runs would make that job a lot easier. If Bae is for real and as good as he’s looked the last 10 days, all you need is three good, consistent starters and you should be able to contend.
Hopefully Bae can spin some gems at ss tonight. Going to need some good pitching again unless Suwinski and Mathias can help the offense. And if Hedges provides some offense…ah, never mind.
Hoping that Oviedo continues to show command of his FB.
Lets Go Bucs!
Let’s go!!!