After a series loss the Pittsburgh Pirates look to start anew against the Milwaukee Brewers. These two teams met a week ago with the Pirates holding a 2-1 season series advantage.
Last game out:
The Pirates were shutout as Alfredo Simon and Joakim Soria combined to allow two hits in a 1-0 Tigers victory. The Pirates offense struggled to get base runners as evidenced by the 13 consecutive batters Simon retired to end his outing.
The Pirates have not had a walk since Saturday and Andrew McCutchen reached second base in the fourth inning of Wednesday’s game – the first time a Pirate reached second base since Corey Hart’s seventh inning home run Monday.
Clint Hurdle was pleased with the team’s pitching staff for allowing seven runs to a team that had scored 47 runs in the six games prior to the contest.
Tonight’s starters:
Vance Worley is 0-1 on the season losing 6-0 to the Brewers last Saturday at Miller Park. He pitched 6.1 innings allowing seven hits, six runs, six earned runs, two walks and four strikeouts. Locke was believed to be the starter, however there was a mistake in Wednesday’s game notes.
Jimmy Nelson developed a curve ball during Spring Training and uses it 27 percent of the time according to Brooks Baseball. He also features a sinker and fastball while occasionally mixing in a slider. Against the Pirates last Saturday, Nelson threw seven innings allowing two hits and walking an additional two batters. He set a career high with nine strikeouts Nelson is 1-3 with a 3.13 ERA in five road games.
“Anytime you have a good off-speed pitch that can keep the hitters off balance it’s important,” catcher Jonathan Lucroy said. “He started throwing the curveball this year and it really helped to compliment his fastball and his slider. It gives hitters something else at a different angle and he’s really controlling it well so, anytime you can do that with an off-speed pitch it really helps out.”
Hurdle’s thoughts:
Sean Rodriguez will start tonight and bat eighth in tonight’s lineup. Hurdle referred the move as a day for both Rodriguez and Neil Walker.
“We continue to find opportunities for our bench guys,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “He [Rodriguez] is a very versatile defender and a backyard ballplayer. There’s no place on the field I would not feel comfortable with except for maybe on the mound.”
Chris Stewart’s rehab assignment ended and he is now back with the Pittsburgh Pirates. This means Tony Sanchez will be sent back to Triple-A Indianapolis. Stewart was unavailable for comment prior to the game.
“We had a very professional conversation with Tony today and we told him that this move unlike any of the others was because of player allocation,” said Hurdle. “He did nothing but add value to his position as a player within our organization in Spring Training and while he was here.”
Huntington and Hurdle will work on a model for Sanchez to play since Elias Diaz who has been a rising prospect at the catcher position is already with Indianapolis. This model does not currently plan on involving Sanchez playing first base.
Tonight’s lineups:
Pirates [3-6]
1.Josh Harrison 3B
2 Francisco Cervelli C
3 Gregory Polanco RF
4 Andrew McCutchen CF
5 Pedro Alvarez 1B
6 Starling Marte LF
7 Jordy Mercer SS
8 Sean Rodriguez 2B
9 Vance Worley P
Brewers [2-7]
1 Jean Segura SS
2 Jonathan Lucroy C
3 Ryan Braun RF
4 Adam Lind 1B
5 Aramis Ramirez 3B
6 Khris Davis LF
7 Gerardo Parra CF
8 Scooter Gennett 2B
9 Jimmy Nelson P
Final word:
Brewers All-Star outfielder Carlos Gomez was placed on the 15-day disabled list because of a right hamstring injury. Gerardo Parra will take his place in the line up tonight.
“You’ve got to get in there and get it done, that’s all there is to it,” said Lucroy. “You really can’t replace a guy like [Gomez], so we just have to go out there and do our best and win without him. These kinds of things happen, you just have to deal with them.”
