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Tuesday, June 17, 2014 Johnny Cueto v. Brandon Cumpton
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The off day is over, and hopefully the Reds can pick up right where they left off. After winning their weekend series in Milwaukee, they'll set their sights on another division foe in the Pittsburgh Pirates.
This will be the 3rd series between these two teams in 2014, with the Reds winning both series and sporting a respectable 5-2 record against the Pirates. They'll look to improve upon that tonight with a pitching advantage in Game 1, at least on paper.
Despite the best efforts from Pittsburgh fans, Johnny Cueto still pretty much owns the Pirates. He has a 2.15 ERA in 23 career starts against Pittsburgh, and his 15 wins against them is almost twice as many times as he's beaten any other team. He's faced them twice so far this year, and pitched complete games in both outings, giving up 1 total run.
How good has he been against the Pirates so far this year? Both of his game scores in the starts where he faced the Pirates earlier this year ranked in the top 5 best Reds starts this year. Then again, he's pitched 6 of the best 8 games for the Reds this year, which I think is pretty good.
Brandon Cumpton will take the mound for the Buccos, who hasn't pitched more than 6 innings in a start since returning from AAA on May 26th. He's been good against the Reds in 3 starts though, with a 1.35 ERA.
Go Reds!