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Posted at 10:25 AM EST.

8:10 PM EST. The Pirates might be the worst team in baseball. They don’t score runs, they have a lousy six wins in 21 road games and they don't do anything particularly well. Perhaps the worst part about this team is that they’re getting used to losing and don't seem to care. Pittsburgh opened a three-game set in Arizona last night with an 11-4 loss after getting destroyed by the Dodgers in L.A in a three-game set in which they were outscored 21-6. The Pirates will come to the park today expecting to lose because that’s their mindset these days.

Trevor Williams makes his second career start after also getting torched in Los Angeles in his MLB starting debut. Williams lasted a mere three innings and surrendered seven hits and six runs. All told, he’s appeared in five games for the Pirates this year and it’s getting worse. Williams has walked eight, struck out six and comes in with a 2.67 WHIP. In his seven appearances thus far, six have been at pitcher-friendly venues but this one is not. Aside from being shell-shocked, Williams’ confidence is also shot and his chances of getting through even four innings appear to be remote at best. There is nothing good about the Pirates today.

Taijuan Walker went 8-11 with a 4.22 ERA in 134 innings for the Mariners last year and that’s not good when considering he pitched most of his innings in pitcher’s parks. However, flat feet apparently caused foot and ankle issues that led to flat skills in the 2nd half but his 1st half was a strong continuation of his 2015 growth. Walker has yet to post a full season ERA under 4.00 but his xERA says it's there for the taking and now he's on the precipice of bigger and better things. Walker spent the offseason adjusting his pitching mechanics to gain more deception and it’s working. His previously rarely used sinker and slider are now much bigger parts of his arsenal (2016 usage: sinker 2%, slider 1%) and that’s working too. Walker has 40 K’s in 40 frames with just 12 walks issued. He’s throwing hard and his K’s have the full support of a 13% swing and miss rate. He’ll now face what appears to be an unmotivated team that is just going through the motions while pitching for an enthusiastic bunch that can’t wait to play some more ball. Can this one go any other way? We trust not.  

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