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The Pittsburgh Pirates Lane Taylor Jersey , jockeying for first place in the National League Central the first several weeks of the season, go into a weekend series against Cincinnati looking at the possibility of spiraling into the cellar conversation with the Reds.

Pittsburgh (33-35) is eight games up on Cincinnati (25-43) but has fallen to fourth in the division and created some separation from the top three clubs by going 6-18 in its past 24 games.

The Reds come to PNC Park with a three-game winning streak.

Cincinnati right-hander Matt Harvey (1-4, 5.97 ERA) is scheduled to oppose Pirates right-hander Chad Kuhl (4-4, 3.95) on Friday.

Both teams had a day off Thursday.

The Pirates are coming off a 5-4 win on Wednesday at Arizona that concluded a 2-4 road trip. Friday’s game launches a 10-game, 10-day homestand.

They have been plagued in recent games by a plethora of problems, from defensive lapses to baserunning blunders, blown leads to offensive droughts.

“We’re going to get home and figure a lot of things out,” Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle said.

Shortstop Jordy Mercer, who was 7-for-17 with a homer and four RBIs on the road trip, believes the Pirates can turn things around.

“It’s the ebb and flow of the season,” he said. “You’re going to get into some of these situations where things don’t go your way.

“We’re able to relax a little bit now. We got a win. Hopefully, we can scratch another one out and roll with some momentum, especially at home with a 10-game homestand. Hopefully, we’ll get some momentum at home and carry it into the next road trip.”

The Reds are coming off a 7-0 win on Wednesday at Kansas City and are looking to get their rotation into a prolonged groove.

They have gotten back-to-back quality starts after going 15 games without one. During the winning streak Alexander Kerfoot Jersey , their rotation has a 1.40 ERA after ranking last in the major leagues with a 5.68 ERA.

“You get that, you’re going to win ballgames. You’re going to win your share anyway,” Cincinnati manager Jim Riggleman said of the recent improvement.

It falls on Harvey, who was acquired from the New York Mets on May 8 and will be making is seventh start with Cincinnati, to continue that. The Reds won in Harvey’s first three starts, then lost in his past three.

Last Friday, Harvey gave up three homers in his first three innings against St. Louis in a 7-6, 10-inning loss, then settled down in his subsequent three innings.

“That one had more well-thrown pitches than any of the games that he’s pitched … but the select few bad pitches he made really hurt him,” Riggleman said.

Harvey is 2-1 with a 4.76 ERA in six career starts against Pittsburgh.

Kuhl has allowed seven runs in his past four starts, totaling 23 1/3 innings. Most recently, he gave up three runs and eight hits in 5 1/3 innings last Friday in a 3-1 loss to the Chicago Cubs.

In four career starts against the Reds, Kuhl is 1-1 with a 2.78 ERA.

Justin Verlander’s worst start with the Houston Astros might have been OK if not for Wilson Ramos.

Ramos drove in four runs in the first two innings against Verlander and the Tampa Bay Rays went on to a 5-2 win over the Astros on Saturday.

”I wasn’t sharp, but also I didn’t have luck on my side Authentic Travis Kelce Jersey ,” Verlander said. ”I made an adjustment during the third inning that I thought was good, but it was too little too late.”

Verlander (9-4) gave up the most runs (5) and hits (9) of any of his 23 starts since his trade to Houston late last summer. He struck out eight in a season-low five innings after coming in with a major league-leading 1.82 ERA – though it was 4.34 in six June starts. The Astros have lost his last three starts.

Matt Duffy finished with three hits, including two in the first two innings, to help the Rays win for the seventh time in eight tames to move to .500 (41-41) for the first time since June 1.

”I gave up three hard-hit balls, all to the same guy. The rest of `em, nobody hit the ball hard,” Verlander said.

Ramos got the Rays on the scoreboard with a two-run double in the first, and made it 5-0 with a two-run single in the second. Those two at bats summarized Verlander’s day.

”The first at bat, I put him in a 3-1 situation where, bases loaded, he knows a heater’s coming, and he hit it off the wall. So that’s my fault,” Verlander said. ”His next bat I got a ground ball up the middle on a slider, which is kind of what you’re looking for. But it found a hole.”

Tampa Bay has held opponents to two runs or fewer in five straight games for only the second time in franchise history.

”The way these guys are throwing right now Jake Ryan Jersey , we’re tough to beat,” said Kevin Kiermaier, who scored in each of the first two innings.

Alex Bregman got the Astros on the board with a two-run homer in the sixth off Vidal Nuno. It was Bregman’s 16th home run and his fifth in six games.

”They’ve been throwing the ball well over there, and we haven’t really been able to put anything together,” Bregman said. ”Verlander was a little unfortunate today with some of the weak contact that went for hits, but we’ve got to do a better job of putting up runs for him.

Nuno (2-0) got the win after pitching 4 2/3 innings of relief, giving up two runs and four hits while striking out four. Sergio Romo pitched ninth for his seventh save in 11 opportunities.

Ryne Stanek pitched the first inning for Tampa Bay, giving up a single to Jose Altuve, Houston’s only hit in the first four innings.

RARE ERROR

Adeiny Hechavarria made a fielding error on George Springer’s grounder in the top of the sixth just before Bregman’s homer. It ended a streak of 94 games and 319 chances in which the Rays’ shortstop had not committed a miscue. It was the longest errorless streak in franchise history for a shortstop. Hechavarria’s last error had come on July 30, 2017 at Yankee Stadium.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Astros: RHP Joe Smith (sore right elbow) will make what the Astros expect to be a final rehab appearance at Double-A Corpus Christi before being activated. … 1B Yuli Gurriel (paternity leave) is expected to be back in the lineup Sunday.

Rays: RHP Wilmer Font was placed on the 10-day disabled and RHP Hunter Wood was recalled from Triple-A Durham. Manager Kevin Cash said an optimistic timeframe has Font missing eight weeks. … Cash didn’t completely rule out RHP Chris Archer (left abdominal strain) from returning after his first rehab start Tuesday night锟?for Class A Charlotte.

UP NEXT

The series finale will be a matchup of two of baseball’s hottest pitchers. Houston RHP Charlie Morton (10-1, 2.54) has won three straight starts and has not given up an earned run in his last two. LHP Blake Snell (10-4, 2.31) did not give up a hit until the seventh inning of the Rays’ 11-0 win against Washington on Monday night.

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