The set-up: The Pirates lost eight straight games from August 29 through September 6, then won two in a row. However, a three-game slide followed Friday through Sunday at home against the Reds, who entered Friday with a sad-sack 57-82 record. The bottom line is that Pittsburgh's postseason hopes have taken a fairly significant hit over the last two and a half weeks. The Pirates are now 5 1/2 games behind St. Louis for the final wildcard spot in the NL playoff race, having lost 11 of their last 13. The Pirates open a four-game series at Philadelphia on Monday and almost have to take a minimum of three games of this series against the 63-80 Phillies.

The pitching matchup: Gerrit Cole (7-9, 3.55 ERA) starts for Pittsburgh and Jeremy Hellickson (10-9, 3.90 ERA) will go for Philadelphia. Cole's been on the sidelines the last 2 1/2 weeks (during Pittsburgh's slide) with elbow inflammation issues but returns here, making his first start since August 24. He's had a disappointing and injury-plagued 2016 but note that in 20 starts, his ERA is a respectable 3.55 ERA. He's made five career starts vs. the Phillies going 3-2 with a 2.15 ERA. The Phillies decided to hang onto the veteran Hellickson at the trade deadline and he's been an "innings eater" for the young Phillies pitching staff. However, he's struggled as of late, allowing 12 ERs over 16 innings (6.75 ERA) in his last three starts (he's 0-2 and the team is 0-3).

The pick: Pittsburgh was 63-61 when Cole last made a start but sits at 69-72 as he's takes the mound tonight. Cole came through his bullpen session on Saturday with no issues but takes the mound having gone went 0-3 with a 7.06 ERA in the four starts prior to going down. However, Hellickson has pitched very poorly lately as well and Cole has pitched well vs. the Philies in his career (see above) including allowing just one run while striking out seven in six innings against Philadelphia back on July 22. Pittsburgh needs wins badly and the Phillies will play the perfect foil. The Pirates are 1 0* play.