Jul 7, 2018; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Jameson Taillon (50) delivers a pitch against the Philadelphia Phillies during the first inning at PNC Park. Photo Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Indians on Wednesday afternoon will face the No. 1 starter of a Pittsburgh Pirates starting rotation that has impressed Indians manager Terry Francona.
“Their pitching staff has been quietly good,” Francona said. “They may not have a Cy Young Award winner, but all of them are consistently good. Most of them have fewer hits than innings pitched.”
The Pirates (53-49) have won the first two games of the three-game series and will take an 11-game winning streak into Wednesday’s game. The streak is the team’s longest since September of 1996. The leader of Pittsburgh’s rotation will be on the mound: 26-year-old right-hander Jameson Taillon, the second overall pick in the 2010 draft.
Taillon (7-7, 3.80 ERA) is coming off a 12-1 win over Cincinnati on July 20, a game in which he pitched 5 1/3 innings, holding the Reds to one run on six hits with six strikeouts and one walk.
Taillon has been outstanding in his last two starts. In his start prior to beating the Reds, he was even better in a 6-3 win over Milwaukee, striking out a season-high 10 while allowing one run and four hits in six innings.
In three interleague starts this season, Taillon is 1-1 with a 6.75 ERA. In nine career starts in interleague games Taillon is 4-2 with a 3.38 ERA. Wednesday will be his first career appearance against Cleveland.
Taillon will be facing an Indians team that has been the best in baseball in the second half of the regular season under Francona. Since Francona became manager in 2013, the Indians are 217-144, (.601) after the All-Star break. That’s the most wins and highest winning percentage in the majors over that span.
Taillon’s mound opponent will be Trevor Bauer (8-6, 2.44 ERA), who was selected for the American League All-Star team this year for the first time in his career.
Bauer will be hoping to rebound from what was by far his worst start of the season, a 9-8 Indians loss to Texas on Friday. In that game Bauer pitched a season-low four innings, gave up nine hits (his second highest hit total this year), allowed four runs (matching his season high) and walking a season-high five batters, with seven strikeouts.
Bauer has been the Indians’ hard-luck starter when it comes to run support. In his six losses, the Indians (54-46) have scored a total of seven runs. In his last three starts, he has a 2.84 ERA, has averaged 12.3 strikeouts per nine innings, and hasn’t gotten a decision in any of them.
Bauer’s All-Star selection was legit, however. He is second in the AL in innings pitched (140 1/3), third in strikeouts (182), fifth in ERA, fifth in strikeouts per nine innings (11.7) and 10th in opponents’ batting average (.218).
In two starts in interleague play this year, Bauer is 2-0 with a 0.44 ERA while holding opponents to a .187 batting average. For his career, he is 9-5 with a 2.66 ERA in interleague play.
Bauer has one career start against Pittsburgh. It came on July 3, 2015, a 5-2 victory by Bauer, who pitched 6 1/3 innings, allowing two runs on three hits with three strikeouts and one walk.
Prior to Tuesday’s game, the Indians optioned infielder Yandy Diaz to Triple-A Columbus to make room on the roster for right-hander Shane Bieber, who was recalled from Columbus to start Tuesday’s game.
