Good morning from PNC Park where today the Pirates (3-2) finish their opening homestand of the 2014 season in the rubber match of a 3-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals (3-2). Edinson Volquez (0-0, 0.00 ERA) will take the hill for the Bucs and oppose Adam Wainwright (1-0, 0.00). It was Wainwright who denied the Pirates a NLCS birth in game 5 of last seasons NLDS.
Hurdle’s Quotes
On Volquez’s improvements — “For those that have watched every outing from the start of spring training, there’s been visible improvement, there’s intentual evidence of improvement and there’s been a lot of things that have gotten better that you can’t measure. To get involved in a game atmosphere. The importance of it in a different role. His buy in was great, he was in the bullpen the night before, as well. When that game got extended, he cleated up, spiked up and was ready to go. He would have been the next man in.”
On Volquez’s comfort level with the team — “Right now, what I think is nice about Edinson is I’m not so sure he has a comfort zone, he’s got an edge and the comfort zone, if he’s got one, is the fact that he’s in the right lane. He believes in the people that are working with him. He’s got great support from his teammates, so we’ll see what happens today. This is another challenge for him. I’m really looking forward to watching him pitch today.”
On facing Wainwright and having to get to him early — “That seems to be the case more often than not. We’ve gotten him here, we haven’t gotten him much there. He gets in that rhythm, that breaking ball starts working which makes the fastball play bigger and he’s got a couple other weapons to go to. When you do get on, he’s got a very good CRG program that you’re taking a risk when you move on the base. He’s a pro, he’s an absolute polished pro.”
Other Notes
— Catcher Chris Stewart, who underwent right knee surgery on 3/19, is scheduled to begin a rehab assignment with High-A Bradenton today.
— Bucco closer Jason Grilli will be honored tonight as the “Man of the Year” at the 28th annual National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame and Scholarship banquet. The event is taking place at the Westin Hotel and begins at 5:00 pm.
— With his two RBI Friday night, Andrew McCutchen is now tied with Jack Wilson (201) for second place all-time in career RBI at PNC Park, trailing only Jason Bay (241). Cutch also ranks third in home runs (50) at PNC Park behind Bay (61) and Garrett Jones (51) and is only 12 runs shy of tying Wilson for the most all-time (263).
This Afternoon’s Lineups
First pitch is set for 1:35.
Follow @TBerardi_OVA
(Photo Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports)
