(Photo Credit: Gene J. Puskar / AP)
PNC Park — The Pirates (68 – 44) look to take yet another series as they take on the Marlins (43 – 68) in game two of their three game set. Charlie Morton (3 – 3, 4.07 ERA) will face Tom Koehler (3 – 6, 4.34 ERA).
Leading Off
Last night’s pinch-hit, walkoff home run by Josh Harrison was the first by a Pittsburgh player since Craig Wilson took Milwaukee’s Chad Fox deep in the second game of a doubleheader on 9/3/2001 for a 3 – 2 victory.
Hurdle’s Quotes
On the contributions of everyone in the lineup — “You hear in a team sport at the end of a season, the team that wins, you’ll hear it repeatedly in the locker room ‘it took all of us’. Whoever was here through the season was able to throw something in and we do depend on all of us. We’ve got to have a complete team effort and that’s something we’ve talked about since I’ve been here based on the structure of our 40-man, our 25-man, whoever we have here on a daily basis, we’ve got to be a group that’s collectively better.”
On Wandy Rodriguez’s rehab — “He’s finished with a major part of his throwing progression, he actually got on the slope today and made a few throws and it was a real good day for Wandy today and we anticipate that everything moving forward and there’s no residual kickback tomorrow or the next day, then we’re going to get him back on the mound Saturday in Colorado.”
Other Notes
— Pirates AAA prospect, Andrew Lambo homered twice in Indianapolis last night. The 25 year old leads all of minor league baseball with 31 home runs hit this season while ranking fourth overall with 92 RBI.
— The Pirates are 7 – 2 on this 11-game homestand against the Cardinals (4 – 1), Rockies (2 – 1) and Marlins (1 – 0). The homestand concludes tomorrow afternoon.
— Andrew McCutchen is just one of three players in the Major Leagues this season with at least 15 home runs and 23 stolen bases (also Mike Trout and Carlos Gonzalez). In addition, McCutchen is five home runs shy of becoming just the second Pittsburgh player in team history to collect at least 20 homers and 20 stolen bases in three consecutive seasons (also Barry Bonds from 1990 – 1992).
First pitch is set for 7:05.
Follow Travis for Pirates news and in-game updates on Twitter @TBerardi_OVA or @OVAthletics
