The Pittsburgh Pirates will conclude an eight game homestand with a three game series against the Miami Marlins. The Pirates lost the first two games to the Minnesota Twins before earning a sweep against the New York Mets.
Now the Miami Marlins come to town on a two game winning streak after losing its eight games prior.
Tonight’s starters:
The Pirates will send Charlie Morton to the mound for the first time this season. The Marlins will counter with David Phelps [2-1 3.21 ERA].
Morton’s season started on the 15-day disabled list as he continued to recover from right hip surgery. He has thrown three rehab games allowing three earned runs over the course of 20.1 innings. Morton has a 5-3 career record against the Marlins in 10 career starts. He had success last year posting a 1-0 record with a 1.93 ERA in two starts versus the Marlins.
“He’s done all the preparation, all the game action that he can do to put himself in a position to go out and compete tonight,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “After today things will settle a little bit as they have for everybody when they make their first appearance of the year and then we’ll move on from there.”
Phelps is a Pittsburgh resident and won his lone career start against the Pirates, a five inning start in which he allowed no runs. He leads Marlins starters in road ERA with a 1.50 mark.
Pregame thoughts:
The Pirates had to make a corresponding move in order to allow Morton to start. There were several possibilities but ultimately it was decided to designate Radhames Liz for assignment. This means that the Pirates have 10 days to trade or release Liz. If neither happens then he will be in the minor leagues.
“We believe we have another depth pitcher out there in Worley,” said Hurdle. “We believe Worley can provide more length and he’s built up to throw more pitches.”
Liz posted a 1-3 record with a 3.63 ERA in his time with the Pirates.
“We like Radhames, we hope to work with him more,” Hurdle said. “The transition to the bullpen was a work in progress and he’s a good man. When you get better as an organization some of the decisions get tougher. That wasn’t an easy decision by any means.”
Among the possibilities to correspond with Morton’s return to the Pirates was optioning Rob Scahill. Scahill was the 25th and final man to make the major league roster coming out of Spring Training and optioning him would have allowed the Pirates to control all of their relief pitchers.
Hurdle however believes Scahill has earned his place on the major league roster.
“We need to give credit to guys who were pitching well,” said Hurdle. “That option is a valuable thing to have from time to time. There is times those need to be used and times they don’t need to be used based on performance, projection and then value he’s brought to the club moving forward.”
Gregory Polanco will make his return to the top portion of the lineup batting second. The Pirates are 8-6 when Polanco hits in that position.
“Obviously I like him higher than lower and we dropped Walker down,” Hurdle said. “He’s had his own struggles right now. If you remember the plate spinner from The Ed Sullivan Show, you’ve got 25 plates. You’re trying to keep all the plates spinning and you try to find opportunities from everyone. He barreled a couple of balls yesterday and maybe try to move on some momentum there.”
Polanco returning to the spot means the Pirates have its biggest threats on the base paths at the top half of the lineup, something Hurdle says may stick.
“I kind of like the way this looks right now,” said Hurdle. “Harrison needs to hit leadoff for us right now. We have an edge with him hitting leadoff. This lineup I think has a chance to do some things from a power standpoint, from a hit ability standpoint and from a speed standpoint.”
Tonight’s lineups:
Pirates [21-22]
1. Josh Harrison 3B
2. Gregory Polanco RF
3. Andrew McCutchen CF
4. Starling Marte LF
5. Neil Walker 2B
6. Pedro Alvarez 1B
7. Francisco Cervelli C
8. Jordy Mercer SS
9. Charlie Morton P
Marlins [18-27]
1. Dee Gordon 2B
2. Marcell Ozuna CF
3. Giancarlo Stanton RF
4. Martin Prado 3B
5. Justin Bour 1B
6. J.T. Realmuto C
7. Christian Yelich LF
8. Adeiny Hechavarria SS
9. David Phelps P
Bottom of the ninth:
Since returning to the leadoff spot, Josh Harrison is 7-for-18 good for a .389 batting average. Pedro Alvarez’s homer Saturday gives him 52 at PNC Park good for third all-time. The Pirates are 27-16 all-time against the Marlins at PNC Park. In the last four games, Pirates starting pitchers are 3-0 with a 1.98 ERA and 38 strikeouts.
Photo courtesy: Charles LeClaire/USA TODAY Sports
