Toronto Blue Jays (71-59, third in the AL East) vs. Pittsburgh Pirates (49-82, fifth in the NL Central)
Pittsburgh; Saturday, 6:35 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Blue Jays: Trevor Richards (3-1, 4.53 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, 66 strikeouts); Pirates: Roansy Contreras (4-4, 3.57 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 65 strikeouts)
FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Blue Jays -166, Pirates +142; over/under is 8 runs
BOTTOM LINE: The Pittsburgh Pirates look to end their six-game home slide with a victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.
Pittsburgh has a 26-37 record in home games and a 49-82 record overall. The Pirates are 37-20 in games when they record at least eight hits.
Toronto is 71-59 overall and 33-30 in road games. Blue Jays hitters have a collective .325 on-base percentage, the top percentage in the AL.
The matchup Saturday is the second time these teams square off this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: Ben Gamel has 18 doubles, two triples, seven home runs and 40 RBI for the Pirates. Rodolfo Castro is 7-for-27 with two home runs over the last 10 games.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has 29 doubles and 27 home runs for the Blue Jays. Bo Bichette is 13-for-39 with five doubles, a home run and four RBI over the past 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Pirates: 2-8, .197 batting average, 4.71 ERA, outscored by 31 runs
Blue Jays: 6-4, .238 batting average, 4.21 ERA, outscored by six runs
INJURIES: Pirates: Ke'Bryan Hayes: day-to-day (shoulder), Ben Gamel: day-to-day (foot), Colin Holderman: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Yerry De Los Santos: 60-Day IL (lat), David Bednar: 15-Day IL (back), Dillon Peters: 15-Day IL (elbow), Max Kranick: 60-Day IL (elbow), Canaan Smith-Njigba: 60-Day IL (wrist), Roberto Perez: 60-Day IL (hamstring), Blake Cederlind: 60-Day IL (elbow)
Blue Jays: Julian Merryweather: 60-Day IL (side), Tayler Saucedo: 60-Day IL (hip), Hyun-Jin Ryu: 60-Day IL (forearm), Nate Pearson: 60-Day IL (mono)
___
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
