Pirates at Padres
Josh Bell has been one of the hottest hitters in the major leagues for the better part of the last three weeks for the Pittsburgh Pirates, and the San Diego Padres finally got a glimpse of him at his best after he got off to a slow start in their four-game series. The slugger attempts to put a fitting end to what has been a wildly successful 11-game road trip for him when Pittsburgh wraps up its set against San Diego on Sunday.
The Pirates improved to 6-4 on their trek following Saturday's 7-2 victory - a game in which Bell carried the offense with three hits, including two homers, and four RBIs after going 1-for-8 over the first two contests at Petco Park. The 26-year-old first baseman is batting .450 with five home runs and 16 RBIs during the road trip and .411 with eight blasts and 25 RBIs over his last 18 games overall. Ian Kinsler is 4-for-11 with a homer, a double and three RBIs in the series after entering the set with a .171 batting average in his first season with the Padres. His 2-for-3 effort wasn't nearly enough in Saturday's setback, however, as San Diego lost for the fifth time in six contests.
TV: 4:10 p.m. ET, AT&T SportsNet-Pittsburgh, FS San Diego
PITCHING MATCHUP: Pirates RH Joe Musgrove (2-4, 3.59 ERA) vs. Padres RH Cal Quantrill (0-1, 3.60)
Musgrove bounced back from his worst outing of the season in St. Louis by delivering his best one Tuesday at Arizona, allowing one single and issuing two walks while registering five strikeouts over seven scoreless innings. The win halted a three-start losing streak and six-game winless stretch for the 26-year-old who was born just east of San Diego. Manny Machado has recorded three doubles in six at-bats versus Musgrove, who fired seven scoreless innings en route to a victory in his only career outing at Petco Park.
Quantrill is expected to be recalled from Triple-A El Paso to make his third major-league start and remains in search of his first career victory. The eighth overall pick of the 2016 draft allowed two runs in each of his first two outings, going 5 2/3 innings in a loss at Atlanta and 4 1/3 frames in a no-decision against the New York Mets. Quantrill is 4-1 in six starts with the Chihuahuas this season but has posted a 4.80 ERA to go along with a 1.43 WHIP.
WALK-OFFS
1. Bell's two blasts on Saturday gave him 14 in 43 games this season - two more than he hit in 148 contests last year.
2. Machado is batting .366 during an 11-game hitting streak after going 1-for-4 on Saturday.
3. Following a streak during which each of its wins were decided by fewer than three runs, Pittsburgh has had three of its last four victories decided by three runs or more.