Why is the Brewers-Pirates Game Delayed Today? When Will it Start?

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The Brewers-Pirates game has been delayed. Here is the reason for the delay, the latest start-time update and what fans need to know.

The Brewers-Pirates game was delayed before first pitch Friday because of weather. Here’s why the game may not start on schedule and the latest projected first pitch time.

“WEATHER UPDATE: Tonight’s game will be delayed by 10 minutes. The estimated start time for tonight’s game is set for 6:50 PM,” the Pirates announced at 5:52 p.m. local time.

But when 6:50 rolled around, the Pirates had another announcement. “UPDATE: we will not be starting at 6:50. Once we know a time, so will you,” the team posted. As of 7:25 p.m., there had been no further updates, and the AccuWeather forecast for PNC Park showed rains continuing past 9 p.m., with no letup indicated for another hour after that.

“Yeaaaah I thought that was an ambitious start time in PIT,” wrote sports meteorologist Kevin Roth. “There’s still this sec.ond storm they need to wait out. This will now be a very long late start as I initially had in the forecast.”

At 6:45, the tarp was rolled back out after earlier being taken off the field, reported Danny Demilio of Pittsburgh Baseball Now. “The 6:50 ETA seemed aggressive from the start. Since they said that, it’s done nothing but rain harder. Pirates manager Don Kelly and Brewers manager Pat Murphy met with the grounds crew and here we are,” Demilio wrote.

By 7:10 p.m., fans reported the tarp still on, lightning and showers in the area, and uncertainty about when (or if) play starts. Some fans mentioned being told to take cover under the concourse at the ballpark due to approaching severe storms.

“It is going to rain hard again at 7:50 or so (if I’m inclined to believe AccuWeather’s radar),” wrote fan Henry Davis. “Unsure why the game plan is starting the game only an hour before that when they very likely are going to have to tarp it again.”

A flood watch covers the Pittsburgh area from 10 a.m. through 10 p.m. ET, meaning the entire scheduled window for Friday’s originally scheduled 6:40 p.m. first pitch sits inside the warning period. Thunderstorms are considered likely into the night, with an 80 percent chance of precipitation during the day easing only to 60 percent after dark, making the Pirates announced delay of only 10 minutes seem perhaps overly optimistic.

Rainfall totals of a tenth to a quarter inch are expected, with heavier pockets possible if storms cluster directly over the ballpark. Temperatures should sit in the upper 70s at first pitch, with only light, southwesterly wind available to help push cells through the region. A full postponement remains on the table if the heaviest activity parks itself over PNC Park rather than rolling through the valley.

Brewers, Pirates Pitching Plans at Stake

Brandon Sproat takes the mound for Milwaukee already struggling with command. The right-hander enters at 3-4 with a 5.13 ERA and a bloated 1.37 WHIP, having surrendered 14 home runs across 79 innings, according to stats available through ESPN’s game center. A delay that shortens his leash or pushes his outing later into a wet night would only add pressure to a Milwaukee bullpen that has otherwise carried a strong overall season for the division-leading Brewers.

Braxton Ashcraft represents the opposite story entirely. Pittsburgh’s righty sits at 9-3 with a 3.24 ERA, a tidy 1.10 WHIP and 122 strikeouts in 108.1 innings, numbers that put him squarely in the conversation for his first All-Star selection. Any rain interruption threatens to cut short a rhythm that has made him one of the National League’s more reliable arms this month. A stop-and-start evening would force Pittsburgh’s manager to lean earlier on relievers, several of whom have already absorbed extra innings following recent bullpen recalls the club made specifically to shore up a taxed relief corps.

What a Postponement Would Mean for Both Teams

Friday’s game opens a three-game set between the two clubs, the last meeting before both sides break for the All-Star festivities. Major League Baseball’s usual playbook for a rainout is a next-day doubleheader, a step both franchises would likely welcome given the tight calendar squeeze before the break, the Pirates’ published schedule shows no cushion for an off-day between now and the recess.

That timing raises the stakes well beyond one soggy Friday night at PNC Park. A washout would force both Milwaukee and Pittsburgh to pack two nine-inning games into a single afternoon or evening, taxing bullpens on both sides just as each staff hoped to rest arms heading into the layoff. Sproat’s shaky command and Ashcraft’s breakout season already gave the pitching matchup real intrigue on its own — a doubleheader would only raise the degree of difficulty for whichever relievers get summoned first. For now, the tarp and the radar are doing the talking in Pittsburgh, and both dugouts are simply waiting on the weather to make its move.