Lineup, Notes For Rox Rubber Match

RHP James McDonald (9-3, 2.59 ERA) goes against the. Rockies RHP Jeremy Guthrie (3-9, 6.14) in this afternoon's rubber match. Guthrie is sorta the Rox version of Kevin Correia; he pitches well on the road, but gets hammered at home. J-Mick has had a couple of rough starts; it's possible he's going through a bit of a "dead arm" period. The game begins at 3:10 and will be shown on Root Sports.

The lineup: Alex Presley LF, Neil Walker 2B, Andrew McCutchen CF, Garrett Jones RF, Casey McGehee 1B, Pedro Alvarez 3B, Rod Barajas C, Clint Barmes SS, James McDonald P.

• Neil Walker has a 17-game hitting streak (.485 BA during streak) and Cutch has an eight gamer (.529 BA during streak) going into this afternoon's match. Cutch leads the NL in July hits with 26; The Kid is second with 24.
• Fifteen of The Fort's 28 hits this season have gone for extra bases, including six of his last eight; he has a .518 slugging % so far this year.
• This afternoon the Pirates will look to win their third consecutive series at Coors Field after losing five of six games during two trips in 2009.
• Clint Hurdle told the media that Jordy Mercer, not Drew Sutton or Josh Harrison, will be his "go-to" guy at SS behind Clint Barmes.
• The Pirates have homered in eight straight games and in 19 of their last 21 contests.
• Pittsburgh spent virtually all it was allowed to in the draft; the former big spenders ended up 28th on the draft dollar table at $3,829,700 after spending $17M last year. Here are the league draft bonuses by team, prepared by Baseball America.