The Pirates hope to get back to its winning ways after losing a 2-0 contest Monday evening to the Milwaukee Brewers.
In the loss, there were two rain delays totaling two hours and 13 minutes. A.J. Burnett took the loss and is now 6-2 on the season.
Tonight’s starters:
The Pirates send Francisco Liriano to the mound against Taylor Jungmann.
Liriano has posted the second-lowest batting average against [.215] among all National League left-handed pitchers since 2013 behind Clayton Kershaw. He is 6-4 with a 4.14 ERA in 13 career games, 12 of which were starts against the Brewers. He was 0-1 with a 3.75 ERA in two starts last season. Liriano’s last start was a win against the San Francisco Giants in which he allowed one run on four hits in seven innings.
Jungmann is making his major league debut. He was called up from Triple-A Colorado Springs and Luis Sardina was sent down. Jungmann was 2-3 with a 6.37 ERA in 11 games, nine of which were starts in Triple-A. He entered the 2014 season as the sixth-best prospect in the Brewers organization according to Baseball America. His last start was against Triple-A Fresno and he took the loss allowing five runs [four earned] on five hits in 6.2 innings.
Pregame thoughts:
Andrew McCutchen is back in the lineup after getting a scheduled day off Monday. He did experience some knee soreness during Sunday’s game against the Atlanta Braves but said he did not tweak his knee.
“I trust the player,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “Andrew and I are in a relationship where if he’s fatigued he’ll tell me. He knows what’s at stake and he knows his health is important.”
Road trips have become a much easier for Hurdle since the off-season hip surgery.
“I was able to sit in the chair and take a nap which is quite different from any time last year,” said Hurdle. I pretty much stood on the plane and stood on the bus and slept when I got into the room. I basically got to a point where I was on my feet from when I got up in the morning until I went to bed I had at night. It was much better for me, I enjoyed it much more.”
Various Pirates minor league players have received honors. Yeudy Garcia [4-3 1.91 ERA], Junior Lopez [4-0 0.81 ERA] and Elvis Escobar [.292 20 RBI] were selected to participate in the South Atlantic League All-Star Game. The game will be played in Asheville, NC on June 23. Adrian Sampson was named International League Pitcher of the Week for posting a 2-0 record with a 0.66 ERA allowing one run in 13 2/3 innings.
Bottom of the ninth:
Closer Mark Melancon has converted a career-high 16 straight save opportunities this season… Francisco Cervelli has reached base safely in 16 straight games and 26 of his last 27… The Pirates are 5-2 against the Brewers this season… In the past 17 games Pirates starting pitchers are 13-2 with a 2.50 ERA and 108 strikeouts.
Hurdle further discussed being able to sit on the airplane last road trip and made light of last year’s difficulties.
“I’m 16 years sober and the only comfort at all is a barstool and I had one at every ballpark on the road,” Hurdle said.
Photo courtesy: Gene J. Puskar/AP
