Milwaukee Brewers vs. Pittsburgh Pirates Pitching Matchups

By Michael Terrill

The Milwaukee Brewers (23-28) finally return home after a long road trip to host the Pittsburgh Pirates (25-25) at Miller Park. The Brewers are coming off a phenomenal four-game series in which they swept the Los Angeles Dodgers, owners of the best record in baseball. Milwaukee is the first team to sweep the Dodgers in Los Angeles since the Colorado Rockies did it August 9-12, 1993. The Pirates on the other hand are coming off a series win themselves after taking two out of three from the Cincinnati Reds.

Friday June 1, 2012

Randy Wolf (2-4, 5.74 ERA) vs. Kevin Correia (1-5, 4.30 ERA)

Randy Wolf is the only Brewers pitcher who was not a part of the four-game sweep of the Dodgers. He is still winless since April 30 and his best change of recording a victory in May happened this past Sunday, but Milwaukee was unable to hold on to the lead. Wolf was tremendous against the Arizona Diamondbacks in which he allowed two earned runs on seven hits in 5.2 innings pitched. He currently has a 3.60 ERA at home this season in five starts.

Kevin Correia, arguably the Pirates best road pitcher, has only won one game at Miller Park in 11 attempts. He was 10-3 on the road last season with two of those losses coming at the hands of the Brewers. Correia started out 2012 well by going 1-0 and surrendering only four earned runs in his first three starts. Since then he has given up 21 earned runs and posted a 0-5 record, including five losses in a row from April 29-May 20.

Saturday June 2, 2012

Shaun Marcum (3-3, 3.63 ERA) vs. Erik Bedard (3-5, 3.12 ERA)

Shaun Marcum started off the series against the Dodgers with a bang when he threw a career-high 119 pitches on Memorial Day. He only gave up one earned run on six hits while striking out a season-high nine batters in seven innings pitched. Marcum has been a rock for the Brewers in the starting rotation as he has only allowed more than three earned runs in one contest the entire season.

Erik Bedard may be the key to Pittsburgh finally getting a win in Milwaukee. Bedard has never faced the Brewers in his career which means a good portion of the team will be facing him for the first time. He had two straight rough outings in which he surrendered eight earned runs in 11 innings pitched. However, his last appearance was his best start of the season in which he only gave up two hits and did not allow a run in a victory against the Chicago Cubs.

Sunday June 3, 2012

Michael Fiers (1-0, 1.29 ERA) vs. James McDonald (4-2, 2.20 ERA)

I firmly believe Michael Fiers outstanding performance against the Dodgers Tuesday night is what motivated the team to go for the sweep. Fiers, a minor league pitcher who was called up to replace the injured Marco Estrada in the starting rotation, recorded his first MLB win in his first major league start. He went seven innings and allowed only one earned run on five hits while striking out three batters. His deceptive delivery is what got to the Los Angeles hitters and should favor him against other teams as well.

James McDonald has been outstanding this season as he has only given up 16 earned runs in 65.1 innings pitched. He has yet to give up more than three earned runs in a start and has pitched five games in which he only surrendered one run. His last outing was his best as he blanked the Reds on five hits in eight innings pitched. His most impressive stat is he has only given up two home runs in his last 65 1/3 innings.

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