The Pirates (23 – 17) look to take another 4-game series as they face the Brewers (16 – 22) in the final game of the mid-week set. Francisco Liriano (1 – 0, 1.69 ERA) will make his first home start as a Pirate as he faces Hiram Burgos. (1 – 1, 6.86 ERA)
Hurdles Notes
On the state of the team at the quarter point – “I like the direction we’re headed. I like the rotation, now. There could be some addition, or two, moving forward. The depth has never been better. I do believe there will be more innings out of the starters as we move forward.”
“Offensively, the lineup’s never been deeper. We still got some guys, in house, that are capable of doing more and we have some guys that we are getting fantastic production from right now.”
On the status of Jared Hughes in the minors – “He’s down pitching in AAA, right now. He’s starting to get his feet back under him.”
On the bullpen’s status for tonight – “Grilli will not be available tonight. Melancon, we’re going to check it out. Back-to-back days, 28 pitches. It’s under the 30-pitch mark but we’ll let him go out and play catch and see what his arm tells us and what he tells us. Everybody else is good to go.”
On the evolving of defensive strategy’s in baseball against a hitter – “I played in an era when a ball hit up the middle was a base-hit, it was called a diamond cutter. That’s no longer true, 8 groundball’s hit up the middle and 5 of them the shortstop’s sitting right in front of it if they’ve done any type of research on it or had any major league experience. The game’s changed dramatically with the defensive shift.”
Other Notes
— The Pirates are looking to take 3-of-4 from an opponent for the 4th time this season (ATL, PHI, STL, NYM). Each time, they have lost the first game of the series and have come back to win the final three.
— Charlie Morton will make his next rehab start on in Indy, Karstens will throw his next start in Altoona on Saturday.
— The Pirates (23 – 17) have the third-best record in the majors since April 8th (22 – 12). They have recorded 23 wins in the first 40 games for the first time since 1992 (24 – 16).
— Neil Walker is a force when it comes to hitting with the bases loaded. In his career, he’s 17-for-34 (.500) with 45 RBI. With his 2 RBI single with the bases loaded last night, he’s 2-for-3 with 4 RBI this season.
— Francisco Liriano, who is making his home debut tonight, made his Pirates debut in New York last Saturday where he gave up one run and struck out nine batters in a Pirates 11 – 2 victory. The last pitcher to record at least nine strikeouts in his Pirates debut was Tim Wakefield, who struck out ten in a 3 – 2 complete-game victory over the Cardinals on July, 31 1992.
First pitch is set for 7:05
(Photo Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports)
