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ESPN+ will host Thursday’s matchup between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Atlanta Braves with first pitch set for 7:20 p.m. ET. The game will take place at Truist Park in Atlanta, and will air on ATT SportsNet-PIT in the Pirates market and on Bally Sports SouthEast in the Braves market. The pitching matchup is Wil Crowe for the Pirates and Drew Smyly for the Braves.
If you aren’t around a TV to check out this primetime MLB matchup, you can stream the game via WatchESPN or the ESPN app. But keep in mind — you’ll need a subscription to ESPN+. You can subscribe to ESPN+ on the ESPN website, where you can get a monthly subscription for $5.99, or get the ESPN/Disney/Hulu bundle for $13.99 per month.
The Pirates have lost three in a row after dropping a two-game set to the St. Louis Cardinals. Pittsburgh is 7.5 games out of first place at the bottom of the NL Central. Bryan Reynolds, Colin Moran and Adam Frazier have been able to get on base but there’s a major power outage for the Pirates. As a team, their OPS is .646, which ranks 29th in MLB. No one on the Pirates roster has more than 4 HRs this season.
The Braves avoided a sweep by the New York Mets with a 5-4 win on Wednesday. Atlanta has lost 6 of its past 9 games to drop to 20-23, good for third place in the NL East. Ronald Acuna Jr. and Freddie Freeman continue to jockey for positioning in the HR race behind Shohei Ohtani. Acuna is second with 13 dingers while Freeman has 12 on the season. That type of power may end up being the difference in this series vs. the Pirates.