Liriano has regressed this season and has had 4 really poor starts in his last 7 starts. He also posts 4.36 ERA on the road where he's given up 27.6 % LD's which is extremely high considering he's under 20% at home. Add that factor against a good hitting team in a hitters ball park and I think Liriano will be in trouble tonight. Liriano has also not been good on extra rest this season. In 3 road starts on extra rest he's allowed 15 ER in just 14.2 IP. He's also backed by a bullpen that has been pitching worse than their season averages combining for a 5.40 ERA in their last 3 appearances each. That's usually an advantage on the mound but against the Rangers on the road it's not.
The Rangers bullpen has a 2.66 ERA at home this year and a 3.04 in their last 3 combined. They also send Martin Perez out there who has a 2.20 ERA at home and a 2.48 ERA on extra rest this year. The Pirates have never faced this lefty so it should take them a few innings to come up with at least a strategy for how they are going to get on base and it may be too late by then. Pittsburgh won game 1 1-0, but they won't win game 2. The Rangers are 16-6 in their last 22 with Kellogg behind the plate and the Pirates are 18-53 in their last 71 inter league road games.
