(Photo Credit:\u00a0Gene J. Puskar)<\/p>\n
PNC Park \u2013 The Pirates (65 \u2013 42) look for a rare 5-game sweep of the second place Cardinals (62 \u2013 44) tonight as Charlie Morton (3 \u2013 2, 3.59 ERA) faces Joe Kelly (1 \u2013 3, 3.44 ERA).<\/p>\n
Leading Off<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Tony Sanchez<\/strong> will get the start at catcher tonight as Clint Hurdle is giving Russell Martin a day off to rest his sore knee. Sanchez says things have finally sunk in for him being a Pirate. \u201cIt sunk in the second day I was here when me and Vic (Black) we\u2019re walking to dinner. Not many guys can say they\u2019re in the majors.\u201d<\/p>\n Hurdles Quotes<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n On participating in the rarity that is a 5-game (non-playoff) series \u2013 <\/strong>\u201cWe have been able to navigate without too much of an overwhelming challenge or anything that\u2019s got us cross-cut, so knock-on-wood, we got one more game.\u201d<\/p>\n On Wandy Rodriguez\u2019s rehabbing \u2013 <\/strong>\u201cWe\u2019re still in the evaluation of the long-toss program right now. We do believe there is a progression we need to go through completely to get him on the mound and we\u2019re following that progression right now. He\u2019s very encouraged with the improvements and the developments of the program that\u2019s in place.\u201d Wandy threw from 100 feet on flat ground on Wednesday and threw from 60 feet today.<\/p>\n Other Notes<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n — With a win tonight, the Pirates would record their first 5-game sweep since doing it to the Giants in San Francisco in September of 1996. It would be the first 5-game sweep in Pittsburgh since the Pirates swept the Marlins in August of 1995. The Cardinals could be swept in five for the first time since being swept out of the Polo Grounds in September of 1916.<\/p>\n — The Pirates bullpen has only allowed one run over the last seven games (19 1\/3 innings) and brings an ERA of 2.76 into tonight\u2019s game which is second in the National League behind Atlanta (2.56 ERA).<\/p>\n — Pedro Alvarez<\/strong> leads the National League in home runs with 27. His seven homers in July were tied for second-most in the league (Alfonso Soriano hit eight with the Cubs before being traded to the Yankees). Pedro also leads the N.L. with a 13.33 HR\/ per AB ratio.<\/p>\n First pitch is set for 7:05 and will be televised on ROOT in the Pittsburgh viewing area and on MLB Network elsewhere.<\/p>\n Follow Travis for Pirates news and in-game updates on Twitter @TBerardi_OVA or @OVAthletics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" (Photo Credit:\u00a0Gene J. Puskar) PNC Park \u2013 The Pirates (65 \u2013 42) look for a rare 5-game sweep of the second place Cardinals (62 \u2013 44) tonight as Charlie Morton (3 \u2013 2, 3.59 ERA) faces Joe Kelly (1 \u2013 3, 3.44 ERA). Leading Off Tony Sanchez will get the start at catcher tonight as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15817,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[616,520,610,377,1116,2058],"class_list":["post-15816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-professional","tag-clint-hurdle","tag-mlb","tag-pedro-alvarez","tag-pittsburgh-pirates","tag-tony-sanchez","tag-wandy-rodriguez"],"yoast_head":"\n