Good afternoon from PNC Park where the Pirates (79-70) have a golden chance to improve their playoff chances against the Red Sox (66-84) in the final Interleague series of the season. Charlie Morton (5-12, 3.84 ERA) will make his first start since the middle of August and will oppose Anthony Ranaudo (3-2, 5.40 ERA).
Standings Update
— The Brewers head to St. Louis to start a three-game series against the Cardinals. The Pirates trail the Cardinals by 3 1/2 games in the division while leading the Brewers by 1 1/2 games for the second National League Wild Card.
— The Braves host the Nationals this evening with Atlanta trailing Pittsburgh by 4 1/2 games for the second Wild Card spot. Washington can clinch the National League East with a win tonight.
— The Giants lead the Pirates by 2 1/2 games for the first Wild Card spot (home field in the Wild Card game) and will play in Arizona against the Diamondbacks tonight.
Hurdle’s Quotes
On having faith in Morton pitching tonight after no in-game work in over a month : “The work that he’s done. The desire that he’s shown to go through this process and to make sure he’s met this criteria that we told him we would have to meet in order to stay in play and become available. The fact of what we saw coming out of his hand the other day. There is only so much you can gauge and there has to be some faith.”
On not starting Liriano on 5-days rest setting him up for a start on Sunday vs. Milwaukee: “Keeping [Liriano] in a place we feel that’s most productive for him, as well as the group. As our conversations went, this is the way that we decided to go.”
The Pirates rotation for the Milwaukee series as of right now: Friday – Locke, Saturday – Volquez, Sunday – TBA (Morton or Worley possibly).
Other notes
— Josh Harrison enters tonight’s action ranked first among all National League hitters with a .317 batting average, two points ahead of Justin Morneau (.315). Teammate Andrew McCutchen ranks fourth in the league with a .310 average. Freddy Sanchez was the last Pirates player to win the batting title after hitting .344 in 2006.
— The Pirates lead all National League teams with 177 extra-base hits since the All-Star break and rank fourth in the league overall this season with 420. Entering tonight’s action, the Bucs have recorded at least one extra-base hit in a season-high tying 47 consecutive games (dating back to 7/26).
— The Pirates had their final off day of the regular season yesterday. They will finish the regular season with 13 games in 13 days starting tonight with three games with the Red Sox. They will then host the Brewers for three this weekend before going to Atlanta for four games and then Cincinnati for three.
Tonight’s Pirates Lineup
First pitch is set for 7:05.
(Photo Credit: Getty Images)
