The Pirates take to the field in front of a national TV audience (Well, the east coast) as Jeff Locke (3 – 1, 3.83 ERA) will take to the mound riding a 13-inning scoreless streak against Stephen Strasburg (1 – 4, 3.13 ERA) who hasn’t been Strasburg-like as of late as he’s given up 12 walks and 3 homers. He does, although, have 33K’s in 30 1/3 innings.
This will be Strasburg’s third start against the Pirates. He has gone a combined 13 innings with 27 strikeouts while giving up 4 runs.
Some of Locke’s success has come from not allowing the “big inning”. “I think his confidence level is such that he’s not getting caught up by the 4th, the 5th, what part of the lineup I’m pitching to.” Said manager, Clint Hurdle. “His confidence is in his skills, his strengths, and his catcher and he’s throwing more strikes. It’s much easier, in any level, when you’re ahead in the count and that’s helped him dramatically.”Today will be a big test to see how Locke will react to pitching against a big name.
Game Notes
— The Pirates have homered in 13 of their last 15 games, including 14 times in the last 5 games. They are tied with the Cubs for the most homers since April 7 with 31. (That’s a span of 24 games)
— Andrew McCutchen loves facing the Nationals as he showed last night, going 3 – 4 with a homer.. He has hit .456 (41-for-90) against Washington with 6 doubles, 2 triples, 11 homers, 22 RBI’s, and 25 runs in 24 career games.
More Cutch — He is also riding a 16-game hit-streak against the Nats, going 31-for-60 (.517) with 5 doubles, 2 triples, 7 homers, and 13 RBI’s.
— Jason Grilli has been named the Major League Baseball Delivery Man for April. He was 10-for-10 in save opportunities while posting a 0.82 ERA over the span of 11 innings (12 appearances). The right-hander has allowed 1 run on 5 hits with 4 walks and 17strikeouts.
— Grilli is the 3rd Bucco to win the award with Jose Mesa (April 2005) and Joel Hanrahan (June 2011) being the other two.
— Nationals manager, Davey Johnson, will be awarded with the Chuck Tanner Award in an on-field ceremony before the game. The award is presented by the Pittsburgh Rotary.
— This afternoon’s contest will be televised as part of Fox TV’s Saturday Game of the Week lineup withBalt-LAA and StL-Mil. The game will be shown on most of the east coast, including the Pirates regular viewing area.
First-pitch is set for 4:05.
