{"id":257447,"date":"2026-08-02T01:08:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T01:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/257447\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T01:08:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T01:08:08","slug":"pittsburgh-pirates-vs-cincinnati-reds-august-1-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/257447\/","title":{"rendered":"Pittsburgh Pirates vs Cincinnati Reds &#8211; August 1, 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img width=\"750\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/andrewabbott01-750x400.jpg\" class=\"cb-fi-standard wp-post-image\" alt=\"Andrew Abbott (Photo: Minda Haas Kuhlmann)\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/>Photo (edited): Minda Haas Kuhlmann. License <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/2.0\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The Cincinnati Reds will go for a series win on Saturday night if Mother Nature allows it. Storms are rolling through Cincinnati this evening, so the wait may be a while if the game winds up being played. If they get on the field, though, the Pittsburgh Pirates will be trying to keep a series split alive after dropping the first two games. First pitch is scheduled for 6:40pm ET.<\/p>\n<p>Starting LineupsStarting Pitchers<\/p>\n<p>Andrew Abbott<\/p>\n<p>The tough start to 2026 is well behind Abbott at this point. While he hasn\u2019t quite gotten back to his All-Star level he was at in 2025, over his last 16 starts he\u2019s posted a 2.95 ERA while throwing 88.1 innings. He\u2019s faced the Pirates twice this season and neither start went particularly well as he allowed four runs in 5.2 innings in a loss on April 1st and took a no decision in what turned out as a Reds win when he allowed three runs in 5.1 innings on June 26th.<\/p>\n<p>Much like the overall numbers for Abbott don\u2019t quite reflect how he\u2019s pitched lately, the same can be said for his splits. He\u2019s dominated lefties since his final start in April, but they obliterated him prior to that and his numbers against them haven\u2019t fully recovered from that. Teams haven\u2019t been sending many left-handed hitters out to face him, and the righties who have seen him haven\u2019t been more than mediocre against him.<\/p>\n<p>Splits\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>SplitPAH2B3BHRBBKAVGOBPSLGRHH3617481134554.237.332.394LHH14434704940.258.299.402<\/p>\n<p>Pitch Usage\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>4-seamCutterCurveSliderChangeVelo92.588.479.682.185.8Usage46%2%14%20%18%<\/p>\n<p>Braxton Ashcraft<\/p>\n<p>A 2026 All-Star in his first full season in the big leagues, Ashcraft as struggled quite a bit in his last three outings. Facing the Brewers, Yankees, and Cubs he\u2019s given up 16 earned runs in 14.0 innings during that time as his ERA has jumped from 3.24 to 4.05. Ashcraft has faced the Reds twice this season and allowed two runs in his 13.2 innings pitched between his start in March and early May.<\/p>\n<p>The splits against Ashcraft are noticeable. He\u2019s holding righties to a so-so average, never walks them, and when they do get hits they show absolutely no power. Left-handed hitters are hitting for a solid average and when they get hits they are showing plenty of power. Lefties, like their counterparts, aren\u2019t walking much.<\/p>\n<p>Splits\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>SplitPAH2B3BHRBBKAVGOBPSLGRHH20947903847.237.268.328LHH29868112132288.256.320.459<\/p>\n<p>Pitch Usage\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>4-seam2-seamCurveSliderChangeVelo97.296.984.991.891.8Usage32%14%26%23%5%When and WhereGame time: 6:40pm ETWhere: Great American Ball ParkWatch: Reds MLB Channel, Reds.tv (in-market), MLB.tv (out of market).Listen: 700 WLW AM (Cincinnati area)Forecast:\u00a077\u00b0, cloudy, 70% chance of rainNews and Notes<\/p>\n<p>Brandon Williamson on rehab<\/p>\n<p>The lefty is starting for Double-A Chattanooga tonight as he begin a rehab assignment. He hasn\u2019t pitch in two months since going on the injured list in late April with what was called left shoulder fatigue.<\/p>\n<p>Division StandingsTeamWLGBPlayoff OddsMilwaukee68410.099.9%Chicago62486.592.0%Pittsburgh555614.025.2%St. Louis545614.59.7%Cincinnati525716.03.1%Playoff Odds via Fangraphs  About The Author<a href=\"https:\/\/www.redlegnation.com\/author\/dougdirt\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1843729dc943f8fba78202715ba292f963fb80b10a0f14d5dd55026fb000dfd7.jpeg\"  class=\"avatar avatar-120 photo\" height=\"120\" width=\"120\" decoding=\"async\"\/><\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo (edited): Minda Haas Kuhlmann. License here. The Cincinnati Reds will go for a series win on Saturday&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":257448,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[73,75,74],"class_list":["post-257447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}