Good afternoon from PNC Park where tonight the Pirates (28-31) begin a pivotal three-game series with the Brewers (36-25), who are seven games ahead of the Bucs for first place in the NL Central. Brandon Cumpton (0-2, 6.85 ERA) will take the hill and will face Kyle Lohse (7-1, 2.60 ERA).
Hurdle’s Quotes
On Jose Tabata starting in LF tonight: “It because Tabata has had a really good history hitting [Lohse] if you have looked at his numbers. It’s not 12 at bats, it’s 33 at bats, it’s 14 hits, it’s an OPS of 1.000. Jose has some matchups that play. Over the years that I’ve been here, guy’s he hits, it’s not like he goes 4-for-4 against him in one game and 0-for-4 the next. It looks good and if you dig into it, it’s been consistent at bats, quality at bats.”
On Starling Marte working his way back towards the lineup: “Starling just went out again today and did some really good early work. We think we’re on to something . Another day of reps isn’t going to hurt him by any means.”
This will be the third game that Marte is not in the starting lineup. He has a slash line of .186/.357/.617 over the last 28 days with 22 strikeouts.
Other Notes
— Neil Walker has hit safely in each of his last 10 games at PNC Park. Since the streak began on 5/7, Walker has gone 15-for-41 (.366) with two doubles, two homers and six RBI on his home turf.
— On Wednesday afternoon in San Diego, the Pirates struck out 10 Padres batters for the third straight game. Pittsburgh has now struck out a total of 62 batters in the last six games.
— Since being reinstated from the DL, Jason Grilli has gone 5-for-5 in save opportunities and has been scored upon just once in six games. He has also recorded at least one strikeout in each of his last 11 games (17 total K’s in 11 innings) after not recording any in his first three appearances of the 2014 season.
Tonight’s Pirates Lineup
First pitch is set for 7:05.
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(Photo Credit: Joe Sargent/Getty Images)
