Today's Match Up: Brewers (Estrada) vs Pirates (Correia)

Game number two of this three game series.

Kevin Correia (12-10, 4.78) will be making the start for the Pirates.  After an April where he posted a 2.90 ERA, Correia has posted a 5.52 ERA since, including a 14.09 August ERA as he's given up twelve earned runs in 7.2 innings this month--against the Cubs and Padres, no less.  Overall this year, Correia has a 4.60 FIP and a 4.27 xFIP.  He's striking out even fewer hitters than usual (4.65 K/9), but is also walking fewer (2.23 BB/9).  Really, Correia isn't a very good pitcher.  That being said, he'll probably go ahead and throw eight shutout innings today as the Brewers are being watched nationwide.

Then again, Correia has, for whatever reason, been absolutely wonderful on the road this year.  When out of Pittsburgh, Correia has a 2.74 ERA and an opponent line of .231/.285/.368.  In PNC, that bloats to a 7.58 ERA and an opponent line of .350/.381/.547.  Quite the difference, no?  His vs right/vs lefty splits are pretty similar, though he gives up an extra .050 points of SLG to right handed hitters.

Correia throws four main pitches: a 91 MPH four seamer, a 90 MPH two seamer, an 88 MPH slider, and a 78 MPH curveball.  He'll also work in a changeup and cutter intermittently.  He's faced five different Brewers at least 10 times.  Here is how they have fared:

For the Brewers, Marco Estrada (2-7, 4.80) gets the start in place of Chris Narveson, who sliced his hand open with a pair of scissors.  You may remember Estrada starting earlier in the year as well, when he had a 3.00 ERA through April, including three starts.  He made his fourth start May 4 against Atlanta and, suffice it to say, it didn't go well.  He have up seven earned runs in 5.1 innings.  He's also given up at least one run in each of his last three relief appearances.  Me?  I'd rather have seen Frankie De La Cruz get the start, but, alas, it was not to be.  Estrada has not faced any Pirate more than two times.

Lineup:

RF Corey Hart
CF Nyjer Morgan
LF Ryan Braun
1B Prince Fielder
3B Casey McGehee
SS Yuniesky Betancourt
2B Jerry Hairston Jr.
C Jonathan Lucroy
RHP Marco Estrada

In the Bullpen:

Francisco Rodriguez pitched 0.1 innings (2 pitches) last night.
Kameron Loe pitched one inning (12 pitches) Thursday and 1 innings (14 pitches) yesterday.
Tim Dillard pitched one inning (15 pitches) Thursday.
Frankie de la Cruz pitched one inning (12 pitches) last night.
John Axford, LaTroy Hawkins and Takashi Saito all last pitched on Tuesday.