The National League Wild Card Game will be in Pittsburgh for a second consecutive year, with the Pittsburgh Pirates set to host the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday, Oct. 1, at PNC Park.
NL Wild Card Game 2014: Pirates will host Giants on ESPN
The Pirates will need to top Madison Bumgarner and the Giants to reach the NLDS for the second straight year.
The game will be televised by ESPN, with Dan Shulman on the call along with John Kruk and Buster Olney.
The Pirates had designs on winning the National League Central, down just one game to the St. Louis Cardinals on the final day of the regular season. However, a 4-1 loss to the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday afternoon clinched the division for St. Louis, forcing the Pirates into another one-game playoff.
The Giants will start their ace, Madison Bumgarner, who was 18-10 in 33 starts with a 2.98 ERA and 219 strikeouts in 217⅓ innings.
“Bum was our Opening Day guy; he’s had a great year,” San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy said on Thursday, per John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle.
The Pirates beat the Giants in four of their six meetings in 2014, winning two of three one-run games in Pittsburgh from May 5-7 and capturing two of three at AT&T Park in San Francisco from July 28-30.
The Pirates beat the Reds, 6-2, at PNC Park in the 2013 NL Wild Card Game, advancing to the NLDS against the Cardinals. The winner of this year’s contest between Pittsburgh and San Francisco will battle the Washington Nationals in the NLDS beginning Friday, Oct. 3, in Washington, D.C.
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