The Pittsburgh Pirates look to get back on the winning track with its Fourth of July afternoon game against the Cleveland Indians. The Indians won last night’s game by a 5-2 final score.
Jeff Locke [4-4 4.55 ERA] will pitch for the Pirates against Cody Anderson [1-0 0.57 ERA].
Locke is 5-1 with a 2.84 ERA in eight career Interleague starts and is 1-0 with a 3.75 ERA in those appearances this season. In his last start he took a loss against the Atlanta Braves. Locke allowed one run on five hits in five innings.
Anderson tossed eight innings in his last outing, a win against the Tampa Bay Rays. He was recalled by the Indians on June 21. Hurdle called Anderson a North-to-South pitcher who has a fastball and changeup make up who likes to get outs on three pitches or less.
Seventh inning stretch:
An ESPN survey was recently published in which players weighed in on all 30 managers and how they rated in certain areas. Hurdle was frequently on each list and received high marks in areas including most creative, developing young players and best leader. Today’s pregame press conference was the first time Hurdle was made aware of the survey.
“You can’t play the game without players and players have their opinions,” Hurdle said. “I’m humbled and I do try and remember and remind myself how hard this game is to play. Truth be told at the end of the day you want to treat people like you want to be treated and I try to follow that in about anything I do.”
Many were in amazement at Starling Marte’s back foot throw to second base in the fourth inning to retire Yan Gomes. Marte was a Gold Glove finalist last season.
Already this week Marte has been compared to Josh Hamilton and Vinny Castilla by his manager, however today drew another comparison.
“Marte takes balls at shortstop in infield when he comes in from fielding every day,” said Hurdle. “He throw off that back foot and I don’t know where it started but he’s made that play in left field before. It’s something he works on in the outfield as well. He made it look so easy just a little something, Arthur Murray, he picked it up down the street.”
Today marked Hurdle’s first comments on the Clayton Richard trade to the Chicago Cubs. Many were surprised by the decision, however Hurdle said the trade fulfilled a promise to the player.
“I think it also backs up everything we’ve said to him and that we stand for,” Hurdle said. “We were going to do everything we could to help this man help work his way back to the major leagues and we’ve done that.”
Hurdle discussed team depth with the move in addition to the recent placements of John Holdzkom and Casey Sadler on the disabled list, and he expressed the feeling that he feels the team is covered but that it “lost surplus”. He acknowledged that the depth is not as deep.
Radhames Liz is one of the depth reasons why Hurdle is not as panicked. Liz has a 1-1 record with the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians while posting a 0.63 ERA in 14.1 innings.
“His last two starts have been good,” said Hurdle. “These starts have been more in line with the numbers we saw in Winter Ball. You factor in that they’re in Triple-A, but overall command though is very good. I think a lot steps are in the right place for him to find his way back, he just needs to continue to pitch and get innings in that position.”
Today’s lineups:
Pirates [45-34]
1. Josh Harrison 3B
2. Neil Walker 2B
3. Andrew McCutchen CF
4. Starling Marte LF
5. Pedro Alvarez 1B
6. Francisco Cervelli C
7. Gregory Polanco RF
8. Jordy Mercer SS
9. Jeff Locke P
Indians [38-41]
1. Jason Kipnis 2B
2. Francisco Lindor SS
3. Michael Brantley CF
4. Yan Gomes C
5. Carlos Santana 1B
6. Giovanny Urshela 3B
7. Brandon Moss RF
8. Mike Aviles LF
9. Cody Anderson P
Bottom of the ninth:
The Pirates will hold their team PhotoFest tomorrow which will go from 11:30-12:30. From 11:30 until noon, the team’s starting lineup and coaches will be available for pictures with the bullpen, starting pitchers and bench available from 12:00-12:30… The Pirates are wearing a red base cap today with the primary logo over an image of a waving American Flag. The jerseys will feature starters either within the logo or lettering on the front and number on the back… The Pirates have won each of the past five Saturday home games this season while averaging 6.5 runs during this stretch… Andrew McCutchen is batting .397 in his last 21 home games.
Photo courtesy: Jared Wickerham/Getty Images
