Pirates have high hopes in bout against Reds
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}(SportsNetwork.com) - The Pittsburgh Pirates are assured of going to the postseason, but they face a must-win situation today if they want to go into the playoffs as NL Central champions.
The Pirates enter the final day of the regular season a game behind St. Louis for the division lead. The Cardinals play at Arizona later in the day. The Pirates need to win and have the Cardinals lose to force a one-game playoff at Busch Stadium to determine the division champion.
The Bucs will either host the Giants in a wild card contest Tuesday or start the NL Division Series at the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Pirates suffered a 10-6 loss yesterday when Cincinnati's Ramon Santiago hit a grand slam in the bottom of the 10th inning. The Cardinals then lost to the Diamondbacks.
Gerrit Cole gets an opportunity to keep the Pirates in the chase for the division title. The right-hander won his last start Tuesday in Atlanta when the Bucs secured a postseason spot. He has won each of his last four starts and is 8-1 in 10 career starts during September.
Cole suffered a 7-5 loss to the Reds at Great American Ball Park on April 15.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Johnny Cueto goes into the final day of the regular season with motivation as well. The righty is 12 strikeouts shy of 1,000 for his career and will try to become the first Reds pitcher to win 20 games since Danny Jackson in 1988 (23-8) and the first Reds righty since Sammy Ellis (22-10) and Jim Maloney (20-9) both won 20 games in 1965.
Cueto's career-high 235 strikeouts are the most by a Reds pitcher since Mario Soto had 242 in 1983.
A winner in four of his last five decisions, Cueto is 17-4 with a 2.26 ERA in 26 games all-time against the Pirates.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Starling Marte has a 12-game hitting streak going into the final day, while Pirates teammate Josh Harrison has a career-high 15-game streak.
Cincinnati leads the season series, 11-7.