The Pirates come back to Three Rivers Stadium tomorrow with a 2-0 lead over Cincinnati in their best-of-five NL Championship Series. A win in any of the remaining three games will put them in the World Series.
The starters will be righthanders Mike LaCoss for the Reds and Bert Blyleven for the Pirates. The 23-year-old LaCoss just finished his first full year in the majors. He was second on the Reds in wins, going 14-8 with a 3.50 ERA. The veteran Blyleven led the Pirates in innings, with 237.1. He went 12-5 with a 3.60 ERA and 172 strikeouts. His strikeout total led the Pirates, and ranked seventh in the majors and fourth in the NL.
The Pirates could also find out tomorrow what team they’ll be facing. The AL East champion Baltimore Orioles beat the West winner, the California Angels, 9-8 today. That gave the Orioles a 2-0 lead. They could close out their series tomorrow in Anaheim.
