Lineup, Notes

Padres RHP Jason Marquis (5-6, 4.10 ERA) toes the rubber against RHP AJ Burnett (14-3, 3.19). SD's veteran sinker baller has won four of his past five starts. AJ has won 13 of his last 14 decisions and will be called on to be the Bucco stopper once again. The game starts at 7:05 and will shown on Root Sports.

The lineup: Starling Marte LF, Travis Snider RF, Andrew McCutchen CF, Garrett Jones 1B, Neil Walker 2B, Pedro Alvarez 3B, Josh Harrison SS, Rod Barajas C, AJ Burnett P.

The Friars have won their last five games, and play in Pittsburgh like it's their second home. They've never lost a series at PNC Park since the yard opened its gates in 2001 and have taken ten straight on the banks of the Allegheny.

The Pirates have run into some hot teams lately beginning with the Red series, and are just 3-5 in that span. But we'd caution the "sky is falling" fan club to hang in for a while before jumping ship; there are still 50 games to go. As all old school hardball junkies know, baseball is a marathon, not a sprint, and the final backstretch isn't in sight yet.

• AJ is going for win #15 tonight. The last Pirate to win 15 games in a season was Todd Ritchie (15-9) in 1999.
• The Bucs are going to repeat their six man rotation at least one more time around, with KC going on Thursday against the Dodgers.
• Huston Street injured his calf covering first on the final out of last night's game. The injury hasn't been evaluated yet, but is expected to keep him out of the remainder of the series.
• Tim Williams of Pirate Prospects compares Gerritt Coles' season to David Wright's 2008 campaign.