Hague Optioned; Line Up, Pre-Game Notes

The loser of the Charlie Morton lottery is Matt Hague, who was sent down to Indy to clear a roster space for the right hander. We were a little surprised, as we thought he and Casey McGehee were a natural right-handed platoon. The FO and Clint Hurdle have opted to keep McGehee as the first base partner of Garrett Jones and use Josh Harrison or Yamaico Navarro at third as needed.

The game: Charlie Morton faces Barry Zito tonight. In 2011, Morton led the MLB with a 76% ground ball rate and surrendered just six home runs, the fewest amount given up among pitchers with at least 100 IP, on his way to a 10-10/3.83 line. The game is at 9:05 PM and will be broadcast on Root Sports.

The lineup: Alex Presley LF, Jose Tabata RF, Andrew McCutchen CF, Casey McGehee 1B, Rod Barajas C, Neil Walker 2B, Josh Harrison 3B, Clint Barmes SS, Charlie Morton P.

Clint is back to his usual lefty lineup with Harrison replacing Hague.

• Morton is making his first start after rehabbing from October hip surgery. His recovery was uneventful, and Morton has missed just one turn in the rotation.
• The other team has scored the first run in six of the first seven games and scored at least once in the first inning five times. The Pirates have played with the lead just once so far this season, and that only lasted 1/2 inning.