PNC Park — The Pirates (53 – 34) will look to get back on the winning track as they go interleague against the Oakland Athletics (52 – 37). All-Star, Jeff Locke (8 – 1, 2.12 ERA) will take the hill against another All-Star in Bartolo Colon (11 – 3, 2.78 ERA).
Leading Off
— Neil Walker will be unavailable for the Pirates with continued pain in his side. He underwent “heat and treat” treatment and will test the “injury” out afterwards.
— Jeff Locke will pitch again on Sunday in the Pirates final game before the All-Star break. This means he will not be available to pitch in the midsummer classic. He will, although, be able to participate in all of the activities and attend the game.
Hurdle’s Quotes
On Locke pitching on Sunday instead of being moved to pitch in the All-Star game – “We weren’t asked to make any adjustment there – I would prioritize our need over their need. I just give a big round of applause to the awareness of Bruce and the staff, whoever the selection committee was, to select the young man.”
“There will be a couple other pitchers that will go and not be able to pitch (Bartolo Colon included). Being picked is something he didn’t have going in”
On the offensive approach over the last couple weeks – “Well, we’re not as consistent as we’d like to be – I think that’s always a question. We use every attempt to communicate, entrust and you gotta go out and play and you gotta go out and produce and connect the dots.”
On not being able to score runners in scoring position — “The question is the level of intent that you have when you go up there commitment wise. We’re not where we want to be with scoring runners from third base with less than two outs and that’s been a nagging issue for us from the start of the season till now. You’re not going to do it 100% of the time. League average is 50% and I’m aiming for 60% — we have more room for improvement”
Other Notes
— Starling Marte is in the midst of a 12-game hitting streak. During this streak, he is hitting .361 (22-for-61) with five doubles, two triples, three homers, six RBI and 13 runs. His current hit streak is tied with Pedro Alvarez’s 12-game streak for the longest on the team this season.
— Jeff Locke is 8 – 0 in his last 16 starts. He’s the first pitcher in Pirates history to make 16 consecutive starts in a season without suffering a loss. Dock Ellis held the previous mark with 15 in 1971.
— The Pirates have won four straight interleague games and have gone 11 – 3 during interleague play this season (5 – 2 at home, 6 – 1 on the road). Since the start of last year the Pirates have the best record in the N.L. (21 – 11) and the second best record in the majors behind Texas (22 – 10).
First pitch is set for 7:05.
(Photo Credit: Gene J. Puskar/AP)
