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Pirates-Reds Preview

Sep 1, 2009 - 4:06 AM By ANTHONY GIORNALISTA STATS Senior Writer

Pittsburgh (53-75) at Cincinnati (56-73), 7:10 p.m. EDT

Not many fans are finding a series between the Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates compelling enough to come out to Great American Ball Park. Justin Lehr's recent performances probably won't help spark any interest.

After sweeping a doubleheader in front of a sparse crowd, the Reds send the struggling starter to the mound as they face the Pirates on Tuesday night in a matchup of foundering franchises.

Cincinnati (58-73) and Pittsburgh (53-77) opened this four-game series with a doubleheader that drew the two smallest crowds in Great American Ball Park's history.

Fewer than 2,000 fans saw the Reds beat the Pirates 4-3 in the opener, and 9,087 tickets were sold for the second game, which Cincinnati won 6-3.

"You could hear everything," Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "I saw one guy who was missing a finger catch a foul ball, and I could hear him say, 'That hurt like hell,' but he caught it. That's one of those days where everyone could get a foul ball and a T-shirt."

Now the Reds will hand the ball to Lehr (3-1, 4.19 ERA), who is 1-1 with a 7.82 ERA in his last two starts. The right-hander earned a win in his last start despite giving up five runs in 7 2-3 innings of Cincinnati's 8-5 victory over Milwaukee on Thursday.

Lehr is 2-1 with a 5.59 ERA in one start and four relief appearances versus the Pirates.

Cincinnati has been getting strong pitching, posting a 3.64 ERA en route to winning seven of nine.

Though the Reds are enjoying one of their best stretches of the season, they're nine losses shy of clinching a ninth straight losing season. While Cincinnati has been derailed by injuries, with every starter from Monday's finale missing time at some point this year, Pittsburgh traded away many of its top players during another terrible season.

Pittsburgh is five losses away from becoming the first major American professional team to finish below .500 in 17 straight seasons.

The Pirates have lost five straight, scoring three runs or fewer in each of their last four contests, and have totaled six runs in losing their last three at Cincinnati. Pittsburgh has a 3.39 ERA in 10 games against the Reds this year but has lost six of the meetings.

But Charlie Morton (3-6, 5.00), the Pirates' next starter, earned a win in his first game against Cincinnati. The right-hander yielded two runs in 6 1-3 innings of a 5-2 Pirates victory Aug. 21.

In his next outing, Morton allowed two runs and walked four while striking out six against Philadelphia on Thursday night, but he didn't receive a decision as Pittsburgh won 3-2.

He'll face a Reds team that has at least 10 hits in six of its last nine games.

Cincinnati second baseman Brandon Phillips hit a homer and had another overturned after a review in Monday's second game. He's 9 for 17 over his last five games and is batting .394 with three homers and 10 RBIs in nine contests against Pittsburgh this season.