The Pittsburgh Pirates will look to earn a split in their two-game series against the Minnesota Twins tonight.
An 8-5 victory was a result in favor of the Twins in last night’s game. Francisco Liriano pitched two innings and allowed seven runs. The Pirates attempted to rally, however they stranded 10 base runners which limited the damage they could cause.
Pedro Alvarez connected for his seventh home run of the season, a homer that ended up being the third ball to land in the Allegheny River on the fly.
Tonight’s starters:
In tonight’s game Jeff Locke will take the mound for the Pirates against Mike Pelfrey.
The Pirates are 11-2 in Locke’s last 13 starts at PNC Park with the left-hander posting a 5-2 recor in those games. This is his first career start against the Twins although he is no stranger to Interleague play posting a 4-1 record with a 2.56 ERA. Locke is coming off a no-decision in which he allowed five runs on six hits in 3.2 innings.
Pelfrey is 7-7 with a 5.29 ERA in 18 Interleague starts. The former New York Mets pitcher is 3-2 with a 4.78 ERA in his career against the Pirates. Pelfrey’s last outing was a loss in which he allowed five runs [four earned] on 10 hits in 4.2 innings.
“He did have a good run but his last game did not go too well for him; he’d be the first to tell you that,” Twins manager Paul Molitor said. “It drives him crazy when he does not find himself in attack mode. The biggest thing for Mike is getting this thing on the mound where he gets wound up a little bit too tightly. He just needs to let that go and keeping believing in what he is doing.”
Pregame thoughts:
The Pirates made several lineup changes in advance of tonight’s game. Gregory Polanco is out of tonight’s lineup and has not had a hit in any of his past 19 at-bats.
“It’s been a hard stretch lately and he’s fighting,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “I think sometimes you’ve got to unplug him. He was out early today getting some work in and do some things. We’ll take it one day at a time.”
This also is Jordy Mercer’s first start in six days. Mercer got an extended look yesterday and Hurdle wants to see how his extra work has gone. Mercer is batting .174 on the season with no home runs and eight RBI.
Josh Harrison was chosen over Jose Tabata to play right field in tonight’s game and in an effort to keep his bat in the lineup, Jung Ho Kang will play third base.
Francisco Cervelli is penciled in the starting lineup after he was hit in the mask during last night’s game. Cervelli had been on the receiving end of several hits in recent games.
Charlie Morton made his third rehab start last night and allowed two runs and two hits in 6.1 innings of work.
It is highly expected that he will take the rotation spot of Vance Worley. Worley was available in the bullpen last night and pitched two innings.
Hurdle already told media this past weekend that Worley will assume a bullpen role for now and that his turn in the rotation would be skipped.
“We’re going to bring him back and we’ll give you something tomorrow on that,” said Hurdle of Morton. “He had a really good outing last night and we’re going to plug him into the rotation.”
Bottom of the ninth:
After 19,932 guests and 6,028 shows, tonight is the final Late Show With David Letterman.
Paul Molitor was among those guests on Letterman’s show and discussed his experiences and the late night host himself to media at his pregame press conference.
Molitor was on the show twice, the first time with Lenny Dykstra and the second time with Dennis Eckersley presenting a Top 10 list.
“It’s kind of fun to reminisce because you’ve got to tip your hat to David Letterman,” Molitor said. “I can’t imagine trying to being comedic, smart and on the mark for 33 years. To say I had an opportunity to be on that show a couple of times, I look back fondly. It’s fun to say I had a really small part in that.”
Photo credit: MLB.com
