Diamondbacks continue road trip, face Pirates in Pittsburgh

Aug 7, 2015; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher

(57) throws in the third inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

Game Two (7:05 ET): Chase Anderson vs. Francisco Liriano

Anderson on the season is 5-5 with a 4.31 ERA and this will be the first time in his young career facing off against the Pirates. The 27 year old was placed on the 15 day disabled list on July 19th and he was very sharp in his first start back on August 7th. Anderson went seven innings, allowing four hits and no runs against the Reds.

However in Anderson’s last start, he was roughed up by Philadelphia. Allowing five runs on nine hits in five innings. So it’s hard to say how Anderson will do against a team like Pittsburgh.

Since the Bucs have never faced Anderson before, it would not be unreasonable to think that he could get through the Pirate lineup twice without much trouble before the opposing hitters really start to figure him out.

Francisco Liriano will get the call for the home team. The southpaw is 8-6 on the season with a solid 3.19 earned run average. Liriano has only faced Arizona once in his career and that was way back on April 26th of this season. The Dominican Republic native went 6 1/3 innings allowing two hits, no runs with seven strikeouts but did also allow six walks.

Pittsburgh has played well when Liriano takes the mound. Since June 15th, the Pirates are 9-1 when the lefty gets the start. In that same stretch, Liriano has been tabbed with the lone loss and four no decisions with the rest of those outings resulting in wins.

The bottomline: the Pirates have been giving Liriano plenty of run support in his starts. Anderson will have to buck that trend. The D-Back offense will have to be patient at the plate against Liriano. Liriano has been known to have control issues from time to time. Getting his pitch count up as much as possible to get him out of the game sooner is an advisable strategy for the Diamondbacks to implement in this matchup.

Next: Game Three