Gameday 39: Jared Jones kick off big weekend for the Pirates

Pirates begin three game weekend series against divisional opponent Chicago Cubs

After dropping two of the three against the Los Angeles Angels, the Pittsburgh Pirates begin a three-game weekend series against the Chicago Cubs.

Saturday will be the big draw, with Paul Skenes making his major league debut, but Jared Jones starts the series on Friday. The rookie Jones is coming off his best start of his career, striking out 10 while allowing a single hit over seven innings of shutout baseball.

This will be the eighth start of Jones’ major league career, and he still has walked just five batters, striking out 52 over 41 innings.

It will be a strong pitching matchup, as the Cubs will send Javier Assad to the mound on Friday, with Justin Steele expected to go on Saturday.

First pitch is expected at 6:40 pm ET.

Pirates Lineup

DH - Andrew McCutchen

RF - Bryan Reynolds

SS - Oneil Cruz

1B - Rowdy Tellez

2B - Nick Gonzales

LF - Jack Suwinski

3B - Jared Triolo

C - Yasmani Grandal

CF - Michael A. Taylor

Cubs Lineup

SS - Nico Hoerner

RF - Mike Tauchman

DH - Cody Bellinger

3B - Christopher Morel

LF - Ian Happ

1B - Michael Busch

2B - Nick Madrigal

C - Miguel Amaya

CF - Pete Crow-Armstrong

Pitching Matchup

PIT - Jared Jones (2-3, 2.63 ERA, 41 IP, 5 BB, 52 K)

CHC - Javier Assad (3-0, 1.66 ERA, 38 IP, 12 BB, 31 K)

Yesterday’s Feature

Nola looked at the pitching depth that the Pirates had created and how they could best utilize it.

Is now the time to leverage the pitching depth the Pirates have built?

Today’s Feature

Paul Skenes will make his major league debut on Saturday, and Ethan looks at the service time implications of when he is getting promoted.

Examining Paul Skenes’ Service Time

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