Good afternoon from PNC Park where the Pirates (52-46) look to add onto their three-game win streak against the Dodgers (55-45). Edinson Volquez (8-6, 3.65 ERA) will face Hyun-Jun Ryu (10-5, 3.44 ERA).
Injury Update
— Gerrit Cole will throw a sim game on Wednesday at PNC Park. One inning with a screen and three without a screen.
“We’re going to try to get him to 50-55 pitches, maybe 60,” said manager Clint Hurdle.
— Starling Marte is in tonight’s starting lineup after pinch-hitting last night. He was hit in the head with a 93 mph fastball on Friday evening.
“Yesterday, he got to a place in the morning where he was able to go through all the activities and say you know what, I’m okay,” said Hurdle. “We pinch-hit him in the game and we’ll run him out there in left field tonight.”
Hurdle’s Quotes
On Gregory Polanco’s slow start to the second half: “I think you do learn about people, not only players, when you go through adversity. I do have the tendency to pay more attention to people’s body language when things are going rough and when they’re going good. He continues to play, he continues to fight, he continues to battle and this wasn’t unexpected by us by any means and we just have to keep working with him and keep reminding him that this is the Major Leagues. You do well here, you’re not going to go up again. You’re done going up. You have to figure out how to reboot and re-calibrate and that’s what he’s working on right now.”
On Neil Walker’s success from both sides of the plate: “I think he just figured he’s going to put his foot down. I think there was a groundswell based on numbers. I saw the numbers the year before I got here and they weren’t as gaped as they were last year right-handed and left-handed. Then when I saw, there was a significant difference. He worked very hard. he just did a lot of focus on trying to emulate his swing right-handed as much as it was left-handed. Better patterns, better rhythms, better swing path and it has played out very well for him at this point in time in the season. He deserves all the credit.”
Other Notes
— The Pirates have been victorious in 14 consecutive games when scoring in the opening frame — the longest such winning streak for the team since also winning 14 straight from April 27 to June 29, 1975. According to Elias, since 1900 the team record for most consecutive wins when scoring in the opening frame is 28 games from April 26 to July 7, 1909.
— Jordy Mercer is hitting .375 (21-for-56) in his first 16 games this month, which ranks seventh among all National League hitters. He also ranks first among all National League hitters from the eighth spot of the lineup in batting average (.296) and slugging percentage (.390).
Tonight’s Pirates Lineup
First pitch is set for 7:05.
(Photo Credit: Getty Images)
