Jameson Taillon faces the resurgent Phillies in a 7:05pm start in Philadelphia. On the other side will be a familiar face in Jake Arrieta.
The Pirates have had some success against Arrieta since a certain infamous game in 2015, going 5-4 against him since then. Last year, they won three of four decisions against Arrieta. His ERA against the Pirates of 4.07 resulted mainly from six longballs, which was more than a quarter of the HRs he allowed on the season. He no longer has the dominant stuff he had in his historically great 2015 season. His fastball is down about three mph even without accounting for the change in calibration a year ago that added a little over half a mph to everybody’s fastball.