Justin Verlander, Giants face tall task in ascending Pirates

Having ended a personal losing streak, Justin Verlander will turn his attention to the San Francisco Giants' current four-game skid when he faces the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night.

Andrew McCutchen delivered the key blow in the Pirates' 6-5 win on Monday in the opener of a three-game series. He hit a two-run, tiebreaking homer in the seventh inning to pave the way for Pittsburgh's sixth victory in its last seven games.

Winless in his first 16 starts as a Giant, Verlander (1-8, 4.70 ERA) finally broke through last Wednesday in Atlanta after giving up only one hit through five shutout innings in a 9-3 win.

Despite having just one win, it was the ninth time this season in which the right-hander has allowed two or fewer earned runs. Verlander afterward was appreciative of his teammates' nine-run uprising.

"It's nice to have run support," he said. "It comes and goes. It's never something that I fault the team for. I know that they're trying just as much, if not more. I know those guys were really grinding. On occasion when they go out and score a bunch, it's nice."

Verlander's start Tuesday will be the ninth of his career against the Pirates, but his first since 2017. He is 5-2 with a 3.51 ERA against them.

Pittsburgh left-hander Bailey Falter (7-5, 3.82 ERA) will be tasked with preventing a winning streak for Verlander.

Falter will seek a piece of personal history of his own in the matchup. He has a chance to tie his career high for wins, set last season when he went 8-9.

He's coming off the best of his four starts this month, limiting the Detroit Tigers to one run on four hits in seven innings in a 6-1 home win last Wednesday.

Falter has faced the Giants twice in his career, but never as a starter, going 0-1 with a 1.23 ERA.

Both starting pitchers will be under a bit of pressure to stay on the mound as long as possible in the game, as each team has taxed its bullpens of late.

The Pirates used five relievers over seven tense innings in Monday's win. The Giants, meanwhile, followed a "bullpen day" on Sunday by receiving four innings combined from Carson Seymour and Camilo Doval in the series opener.

Pittsburgh closer David Bednar recorded his 17th save of the season Monday amid trade rumors on the eve of Friday's deadline.

Pirates general manager Ben Cherington has indicated he's tried to stay in touch with all players whose names have surfaced, helping them differentiate fact from fiction.

Most talk around the Pirates revolves on their bullpen, but Cherington cautioned reporters not to jump to any conclusions.

"I think we want to be careful about it, because you have pitching depth until you don't," he explained. "It's hard to get it back. We're not anxious to trade pitching."

During the Pirates' run of six wins in seven games, the bullpen has allowed just five earned runs in 27 innings. Bednar has given up just one run in five one-inning stints over the stretch.

--Field Level Media