The week ahead: Pirates host Blue Jays, Rockies

Here’s a look at the Pittsburgh Pirates’ schedule for this upcoming week.

vs. Blue Jays

6:40 p.m. Monday (SN PIT)

6:40 p.m. Tuesday (SN PIT)

12:35 p.m. Wednesday (SN PIT)

• The Blue Jays arrive at PNC Park aiming to strengthen their first-place position atop the AL East Division. The club will likely have the help of designated hitter George Springer, who had been sidelined for all of August because of a concussion but cleared protocol late last week. Springer is in his fifth season with Toronto and is slashing .291/.383/.506 with 18 home runs and 57 RBIs. This season, Blue Jays pitchers have a 4.25 ERA, ranking 21st in baseball (the Pirates’ club ERA of 4.06 ranks 17th). Chris Bassitt (11-6, 4.17 ERA) leads his team in wins.

vs. Rockies

6:40 p.m. Friday (SN PIT)

6:40 p.m. Saturday (SN PIT)

12:05 p.m. Sunday (Roku)

• The Pirates will aim to secure some measure of redemption against MLB’s worst team after an embarrassing three-game series in Denver from Aug. 1-3. Game 1 of that series saw the Pirates take a 9-0 first-inning lead only for the Rockies to chip away, score seven runs in the eighth and ninth innings and win in walk-off fashion 17-16. The game featured 33 total runs scored and 40 hits between the two clubs. Colorado owns an MLB-worst 6.00 team ERA, allowing the most hits (1,272) and batting average against (.300). A rare bright spot on the pitching staff has been 31-year-old reliever Jimmy Herget, who is 1-2 with a 2.81 ERA over 43 games and 64 innings.