MLB on Sling TV: Cardinals at Pirates, Rangers at Mariners on ESPN; Wednesday’s Action on FOX Sports Regional Networks
(all times Eastern, starters subject to change)
St. Louis Cardinals (Leake 9-9, 4.56) at Pittsburgh Pirates (Taillon 3-4, 3.25)
7pm ET on ESPN
The Pirates’ death spiral continued its rapid descent Tuesday night with an 8th straight loss: a 9-7 heartbreaker at the hands of their division rival St. Louis Cardinals. The Pirates fell into a 4-run hole on a Yadier Molina grand slam in the 1st, clawed their way back to a 6-5 lead in the 5th, only to wither under a barrage of St. Louis homers in the 9th, as Matt Carpenter, Randal Grichuk, and Jhonny Peralta all went yard to put the Cards up 9-6, with Carpenter’s blast being the Cardinals’ record 15th pinch-hit home run of the season. A solo shot in the bottom half of the inning by Jung Ho Kang, his second of the night, wasn’t enough to get Pittsburgh back on top.
The game brought the Pirates to 67-69, 5 ½ games behind the Cards, who at 73-64, currently posses the second Wild Card spot. If both teams squint they can see the division-leading Cubs high atop the standings at 89-49. Mike Leake takes the hill for the Cards tonight, making his first start since going on the DL with shingles. Leake last pitched August 21, against the Phillies, when he scattered 7 hits and a walk over 7 scoreless innings of a 9-0 victory. On the bump for the Pirates is James Taillon, who’s been great over his last 10 starts, with a 2.80 ERA and 52 strikeouts versus just 7 walks in 61 innings. Taillon and Gerrit Cole should make a formidable 1-2 punch at the top of the Pirates rotation – in 2017.
Texas Rangers (Griffin 7-3, 4.41) at Seattle Mariners (Miranda 2-1, 5.76)
10pm ET on ESPN
Much like the Pirates, the 2016 Seattle Mariners have been circling the drain for a while now. Two weeks ago they were 5 ½ behind the Rangers in the AL West, but just a game out of the second Wild Card spot. Since then they’ve gone 3-11, including an ugly 10-7 loss to the Rangers, a game in which Texas shortstop Elvis Andrus atoned for a pair of errors with a homer, 3 doubles, 3 runs scored, and 2 RBI. The loss dropped Seattle 12 ½ back of Texas, and 6 games out of the Wild Card.
AJ Griffin takes the ball for Texas tonight. Griffin’s been shaky over his last 10 starts, with a 5.56 ERA, thanks largely to a whopping 16 home runs in just 55 innings – that works out to 2.6 per 9 innings – in contrast to the 5 dingers he served up in his first 47 innings this year. For the Mariners, it’s Ariel Miranda, who came over in a trade from Baltimore at the beginning of August and has gone 2-1 with a 5.20 ERA in 27 ⅔ innings, with 27 hits, 12 walks, and 19 strikeouts.
Watch the St. Louis Cardinals vs. the Pittsburgh Pirates at 7pm ET, followed by the Texas Rangers vs. the Seattle Mariners at 10pm ET Wednesday on ESPN by subscribing to the Sling Orange.
Here’s the action from the FOX Sports regional networks across the land:
Detroit Tigers (Sanchez 7-13, 5.70) at Chicago White Sox (Quintana 11-10, 3.05)
2:10pm ET on FOX Sports Detroit
Los Angeles Angels (Meyer 0-1, 12.27) at Oakland Athletics (Cotton NA)
3:35pm ET on FOX Sports West
Atlanta Braves (Foltynewicz 8-5, 4.31) at Washington Nationals (Strasburg 15-4, 3.59)
7:05pm ET on FOX Sports Southeast
St. Louis Cardinals (Reyes 1-0, 1.35) at Pittsburgh Pirates (Taillon 3-4, 3.25)
7:05pm ET on FOX Sports Midwest
Toronto Blue Jays (Stroman 9-6, 4.58) at New York Yankees (Mitchell 0-3, 5.31)
7:05pm ET on YES
Houston Astros (Fister 12-10, 3.91) at Cleveland Indians (Carrasco 10-7, 3.06)
7:10pm ET on SportsTime Ohio
Philadelphia Phillies (Hellickson 10-8, 3.88) at Miami Marlins (Cashner 4-11, 5.00)
7:10pm ET on FOX Sports Florida
Chicago Cubs (Montgomery 4-5, 2.80) at Milwaukee Brewers (Garza 5-6, 4.57)
8:10pm ET on FOX Sports Wisconsin
Kansas City Royals (Duffy 11-2, 3.13) at Minnesota Twins (GIbson 5-9, 5.31)
8:10pm ET on FOX Sports Kansas City & FOX Sports North
Boston Red Sox (Price 14-8, 3.92) at San Diego Padres (Cosart 0-2, 5.14)
9:10pm ET on FOX Sports San Diego
Arizona Diamondbacks (Ray 7-12, 4.46) at Los Angeles Dodgers (Stewart 0-2, 7.94)
10:10pm ET on FOX Sports Arizona
Texas Rangers (Griffin 7-3, 4.41) at Seattle Mariners (Miranda 2-1, 5.76)
10:10pm ET on FOX Sports Southwest
Watch baseball on FOX and FOX Sports Regional Networks by subscribing to the Sling Blue.
All stats courtesy of ESPN and Baseball Reference