The Pirates (53 \u2013 36) look to avoid a sweep to the Athletics (54 \u2013 37) in the final game of the three game set at PNC. Francisco Liriano (8 \u2013 3, 2.20 ERA) will oppose Tommy Milone (8 \u2013 7, 4.11 ERA).<\/p>\n
Hurdle\u2019s Quotes<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n On the offense\u2019s woes as of late \u2013 <\/strong>\u201cI believe it\u2019s an offense that will self-correct. We\u2019ve got a number of individuals that probably haven\u2019t met expectations that we\u2019ve projected going in and we\u2019ve had some that have. We all like our team, we are committed to working hard every day to get a little bit better. From the offensive side, the guys are mindful, they\u2019re not gonna panic, that\u2019s not a good state or place for anybody to be in for play or work.\u201d<\/p>\n On having ESPN here to broadcast tonight\u2019s game \u2013 <\/strong>\u201cI think it just comes part of when you play better, those things happen and when you win some more games. I think it plays into it (the changing culture of the team). It\u2019s nice to play on national TV, I would think.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI know my sister is happy about it. I got one sister that doesn\u2019t miss a game and another that will only watch us when we\u2019re on national TV (laughs).\u201d<\/p>\n Other Notes<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n — The Pirates are 0 \u2013 11 all-time against Oakland and 0 \u2013 5 at PNC.<\/p>\n — After hitting .089 in his first 13 games this season, Pedro Alvarez <\/strong>is hitting .279 (69-for-247) with 23 homers and 57 RBI in his last 68 games. In those 68 games, Pedro leads the NL in homers and is fourth in RBI.<\/p>\n — Austin Meadows <\/strong>made his professional debut yesterday for the GCL Pirates going 1-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored while starting in center field.<\/p>\n — Starling Marte <\/strong>leads N.L. leadoff hitters with 58 runs scored and ranks fifth in the majors in that category.<\/p>\n First pitch is set for 7:05.<\/p>\n Follow Travis for Pirates news and in-game updates on Twitter @TBerardi_OVA or @ovathletics<\/p>\n (Photo Credit: \u00a0Jim Young\/Reuters)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Pirates (53 \u2013 36) look to avoid a sweep to the Athletics (54 \u2013 37) in the final game of the three game set at PNC. Francisco Liriano (8 \u2013 3, 2.20 ERA) will oppose Tommy Milone (8 \u2013 7, 4.11 ERA). Hurdle\u2019s Quotes On the offense\u2019s woes as of late \u2013 \u201cI believe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15630,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[2154,520,2215,610,377,1225,2220],"class_list":["post-15629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-professional","tag-francisco-liriano","tag-mlb","tag-oakland-athletics","tag-pedro-alvarez","tag-pittsburgh-pirates","tag-starling-marte","tag-tommy-milone"],"yoast_head":"\n