Pirates vs Phillies Preview: Skenes Seeks Turnaround in Philly

Two of baseball's brightest pitchers square off on Wednesday night. Paul Skenes takes the mound for Pittsburgh after going 0-2 with a 5.82 ERA early this season. Zack Wheeler pitches for Philadelphia and he's been lights out with a 1.49 ERA and three wins. Wheeler strikes out batters at will with his powerful fastball. Skenes is one of the best young arms in baseball and still hungry to prove himself. This is ace versus ace. When these two pitchers throw, anything can happen. You're watching two future legends battle it out.

Philadelphia won big yesterday, 8-0, and they're the hotter team right now. The Phillies are 47-38 while the Pirates sit at 43-42. Over their last ten games, the Phillies went 7-3. The Pirates are 5-5 over their last ten. Yesterday, Turner hit a massive home run. Harper and Marsh also went deep. The Phillies' bats came alive in the seventh and eighth innings. They're swinging hot right now. Pittsburgh has to bounce back fast or this series gets away from them quickly.

The Pirates are in tough right now. They're two games behind the Phillies in the standings. Paul Skenes has to be special on Wednesday. He's the ace that Pittsburgh hangs everything on. When Skenes pitches his best, the Pirates have a real shot to win. Behind him, the Pirates hope their bullpen steps up. Dennis Santana and the relief staff need to protect leads. The Pirates also need their position players to drive in runs. One loss doesn't define a series, but winning this game would shift the energy back to Pittsburgh's favor fast.