Pittsburgh left-hander Bailey Falter, coming off the best month of his career, will look to keep his personal momentum going while flipping his team’s in the right direction when the Pirates host the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday night.

Falter (4-3, 3.14 ERA) will pitch for the first time against the team that drafted him in the fifth round in 2015. He will oppose right-hander Joe Ross (2-1, 4.34), who typically pitches as a middle reliever but will be the team’s opener in what is planned to be a bullpen game for the Phillies.

Philadelphia enters the game having lost six of its past seven and coming off a 9-1 defeat at Toronto on Thursday afternoon.

The Pirates have dropped three of their past four, including an 8-2 loss to the Houston Astros on Thursday in the decisive contest of a three-game series. The three-game set against the Phillies is the middle portion of Pittsburgh’s nine-game homestand.

The Phillies swept the Pirates in a three-game series in Philadelphia from May 16-18.

Falter went 3-0 with a 0.76 ERA over his six starts in May, allowing only four runs (three earned) in 35 2/3 innings.

Falter tossed 6 1/3 shutout innings, allowing only two hits and one walk, in his most recent start, a Saturday win over the San Diego Padres.

“I’m just out there trying to ride the wave,” Falter said. “We’ve got four more months of this, at least. The job’s not done.”

Falter earned a win the only time he has faced the Phillies, when he threw five innings of one-run ball on April 12, 2024.

Ross is likely to pitch no more than two innings, although he has plenty of experience as a starter, having made 86 starts in his career.

He did not pitch against the Pirates when the teams first met earlier this season, but he is 2-2 with a 2.35 ERA in seven career appearances (six starts) against Pittsburgh.

Ross will try to stabilize a Phillies squad that finds itself spiraling after surging to the top of the National League East last month thanks largely to a nine-game winning streak.

The Phillies’ rotation has had its share of issues of late, as Aaron Nola’s timetable for a return from injury remains murky, Jesus Luzardo is struggling and Zack Wheeler was placed on paternity leave this week, prompting the move to implement a bullpen game.

Nola, who hasn’t pitched since May 14 due to a right ankle sprain, was shut down for a few days after experiencing stiffness in his right side on Tuesday.

“We’re just being precautionary. We’re just going to hold off,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “It’s very mild, but we just want to make sure it’s OK.”

Philadelphia’s offense has also been anemic of late. After scoring six runs in the first inning on Tuesday against the Blue Jays, the Phillies scored only four runs over the final 26 innings of the series.

The Phillies hope starting catcher J.T. Realmuto can return to the lineup at some point during the weekend series. Realmuto exited Wednesday game in the ninth inning after being hit in the groin by a foul tip off the bat of Bo Bichette. He sat out the Thursday game and is day-to-day.

–Field Level Media