Friday, May 24, 2013

Here We Go To Miller Park Again...

AJ Burnett (3-4, 2.57) takes the bump against the Brewers Marco Estrada (3-2, 5.44) tonight. AJ hasn't allowed more than three earned runs or six hits in any of his 10 starts this season, and gone seven innings in his last four outings. But the Bucco alpha dawg hasn't had much luck against the Brew Crew; he's 2-5 with a 4.87 ERA in 10 career starts.

Estrada is 4-0 with a a 2.17 ERA in seven starts against Pittsburgh, and beat AJ in their last matchup on May 13th. The game starts at 8:10 and will be aired by Root Sports and 93.7 The Fan.

Pirates lineup: Starling Marte LF, Travis Snider RF, Andrew McCutchen CF, Gaby Sanchez 1B, Russell Martin C, Neil Walker 2B, Brandon Inge 3B, Clint Barmes SS and AJ Burnett P.

Did Marco Estrada suddenly become a southpaw? You couldn't tell by his splits, which apparently Clint Hurdle looked up before making his card - Estrada's line against righties is .350/.406/.607 and against LH is .174/.245/.337 this year (tho career-wise they're pretty even). If it quacks like a duck...

Brewers lineup: Norichika Aoki RF, Jean Segura SS, Ryan Braun LF, Aramis Ramirez 3B, Carlos Gomez CF, Martin Maldonado C, Alex Gonzalez 1B, Jeff Bianchi 2B and Marco Estrada P.

The Brewers are 4-16 in May, and haven't won a series dating since late April  - against the Pirates, natch. If the Bucs are going to snap out of their Miller Field funk, this would be a good time to laissez les bons temps rouler - let the good times roll.

  • Vin Mazzaro has worked eight consecutive scoreless appearances, covering 11-1/3 innings. He came to Pittsburgh in the Clint Robinson deal with KC in November, another of the little off season moves that have paid off for Neal Huntington so far in 2013.
  • Charlie Wilmoth of Bucs Dugout is now likin' the sandwich pick for Gaby Sanchez deal.
  • The Pirates are 32-70 at Miller park since it's opened in 2001, and 8-46 there in the past seven seasons.
  • Indy's Vic Black was placed on the minor league DL after injuring himself a couple of days ago. Tim Williams of Pirates Prospects reports that he has an oblique strain.
  • Jameson Taillon is on the hill for Altoona tonight.

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