Though Aramis Ramirez has been much of the talk of late, the Pittsburgh Pirates have been able to win its first two games of its four-game series against the Washington Nationals.
The Pirates won the two games by scores of 7-3 and 7-5.
“Any time we win it’s what we’re looking for,” Jared Hughes said. “These last couple of games have been nice because we’ve won. It’s time to keep that positive momentum going and continue to win.”
Tonight A.J. Burnett will face Gio Gonzalez.
Burnett enter’s tonight’s contest in possession of the second-lowest home ERA [1.58] in the National League. He also is six strikeouts away from tying Jack Morris on the all-time strikeout list. In his last start, Burnett allowed six runs on 11 hits in six innings, however came away the victor against the Kansas City Royals. He owns a 12-6 record with a 3.23 ERA in 24 appearances [23 starts] against the Nationals.
Gonzalez is 3-0 against the Pirates with a 2.95 ERA over the course of seven career starts. Gonzalez won his last start allowing two runs on six hits in six innings against the New York Mets. He has a career record on 41-36 with a 4.05 ERA when pitching on the road.
Seventh inning stretch: Ramirez was called up and the corresponding move was designating Brent Morel for assignment.
Morel hit a double that plated the go-ahead run in last night’s game. He batted .286 with the one RBI.
Ramirez will wear jersey number 17, his first time that a 16 will not adorn the back of his jersey. First base coach Nick Leyva wear the number 16. Pedro Florimon who previously wore 17 will switch to 23 which was Steve Lombardozzi’s number. Lombardozzi was recently designated for assignment making the number available.
Ramirez will bat cleanup in tonight’s lineup, a move manager Clint Hurdle acknowledged signaled the end of Starling Marte fulfilling that spot in the batting order.
“Marte has done a fantastic job hitting fourth, that being said, that’s not where you want to keep the kid any longer than you have to,” Hurdle said.
In yesterday’s pregame piece, Hurdle discussed Arquimedes Caminero and his July troubles. Caminero has an 8.59 ERA in July.
Prior to the game, Caminero provided his thoughts in an exclusive interview.
“To be honest I’m trying to go back to the simple stuff like I did in Spring Training,” Caminero said. “Lately I’ve been trying too hard and that got me to the tough part. I was trying to make things more complicated than they were.”
Today, Caminero participated in drills to get his mechanics back. This is Caminero’s first full season in the big leagues and he is working to get back on the right track.
“The season has a lot of ups and downs,” said Caminero. “When you’re down you’ve just got to see what you were doing when you were up and go from there.”
Bottom of the ninth: With the Pirates recent play, the country has gotten the chance to watch more of their games. Friday it was announced that Sunday August 9 against the Los Angeles Dodgers would be a Sunday Night Baseball game. Today it was announced that August 23 against the San Francisco Giants will also be a Sunday Night Baseball game.
“I think that means people understand that we play really good baseball here,” said Hughes. “We play an intense, competitive brand of baseball that people enjoy watching. When you bring TV cameras to PNC Park, people see the beauty of the ballpark and the beauty of the game.”
The Nationals have activated Anthony Rendon from the 15-day disabled list and optioned Abel de Los Santos to Double-A Harrisburg prior to today’s game. Rendon missed 25 games with a left quad strain. He hit .471 in six rehab games with Single-A Potomac and will bat second in tonight’s lineup… The Pirates have gone 11-2 when playing in front of sellout crowds at PNC Park this season and are 7-2 in games played at PNC Park against left-handed pitching… Aramis Ramirez is hitting .352 in 16 games this month.
They said it: “Thank god that I wasn’t going on every 3-2. I would’ve been tired.” – Jaff Decker recalling Gregory Polanco’s 12 pitch at-bat that led to a home run last night
“I’m a big dancer, I enjoy dancing but you’ll never see me dance on a baseball field. Maybe when we win the World Series I’ll do a dance, but that’s it.” – Jared Hughes on National Dance Day and if he will do anything to celebrate its fifth year of existance
Photo courtesy: Jared Wickerham/Getty Images
