The Pittsburgh Pirates (81-79) take on the Cincinnati Reds (67-94) at Great American Ballpark for the final three games of the season this weekend. In the last game of the season, Clay Holmes will take on right-hander Sal Romano, who has a 5.37 ERA in 140.2 innings, with 104 strikeouts and a 1.45 WHIP. He has faced the Pirates twice in relief this season, allowing a total of two unearned runs over 1.2 innings. He hasn’t started a game since August 21st. Romano made one start against the Pirates on April 7th and gave up four runs over five innings.
This will likely be a bullpen game, with Holmes throwing two shutout innings just three days ago and Romano not throwing more than 29 pitches in a game over the last six weeks. Holmes has thrown just 5.2 innings total this month, including a game in Indianapolis. Neither will likely last long, although batters on the final day tend to have a swing if it’s close mentality and they might benefit from some short innings.
Here are the lineups:
Good Guys
Here's our lineup for our last one in 2018, presented by Honda. #LetsGoBucs
bad guys
Big Sally goes to the bump for the season finale.#Reds lineup presented by @PNCBank. https://t.co/xvCkp6CfkK
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) September 30, 2018
Enjoy the finale. Next game recap will be in nine days for the Arizona Fall League opener.