San Diego at Pittsburgh

The Pirates find themselves in a dead heat with St. Louis for the NL Central title. This is unfamiliar territory for a young team.  A.J. Burnett takes the mound tonight, and overall has pitched better than his 8-10 record, but we have seen what happens when he becomes undone, and he becomes a tough project to fix. Burnett is in the midst of struggling right now as he has made a pair of September starts, but has a woeful 9.64 ERA to show for it. Andrew Cashner has been immense for San Diego down the stretch. Cashner has covered 28.2 innings in his last four starts, going deep into games, and has allowed just four runs in the span, with a 1.25 ERA. San Diego is 7-3 behind Cashner opening a series, and overall the Pads have won four straight series openers. The Pirates are just 5-13 behind Burnett in his last 18 starts vs. a losing team. This dog has some legs, play on San Diego.