Bucs Go For Sweep

My, how the worm has turned. After being left for road kill against LA, the Buc bats have finally come to life and outscored the Arizona offensive machine. Today it's Jonathan Sanchez's turn on the hill, facing off against Wade Miley in a matchup of southpaws.

Sanchez had a so-so game against LA, and has been pedestrian in his career against the D-Backs with a 4.88 ERA in twenty games (he has seen them plenty), and he does have seven wins. The Pirate bullpen has picked up 10-2/3 innings in the first two games of the series, and even with the off day tomorrow, a deep outing by Sanchez would be what the doc ordered. Miley had a good outing against Milwaukee, whiffing eight Brewers and yielding just a run in six frames. The game begins at 3:40 and will be on both Root Sports and The Fan 93.7.

Pirate lineup: Starling Marte LF, Jose Tabata RF, Andrew McCutchen CF, Gaby Sanchez 1B, Russell Martin C, Josh Harrison 3B, Clint Barmes SS, John McDonald 2B and James McDonald P.

Sheesh! Walker finally gets a hit and Clint sits him down, even if it is to give his back a two-day rest. Otherwise, just what you'd expect for a getaway day lineup against a lefty, including Pedro being benched. Well, maybe a Mike McKenry sighting would make it more normal, but with tomorrow off, no biggie for Martin to catch.

Arizona lineup: Gerardo Parra RF, AJ Pollack CF, Martin Prado 3B, Paul Goldschmidt 1B, Miguel Montero C, Alfredo Marte LF, Cliff Pennington SS, Josh Wilson 2B and Wade Miley P.

• Garrett Jones and Starling Marte both have four hits so far against Arizona.
• Neal Huntington is playing his cards close to the vest. He told Tom Singer of MLB.com that if Wandy can't go on Sunday, "we've got options internally, or it may be one of our guys in Triple-A." He did rule out Gerrit Cole.
• The Pirates are sniffing after their first road sweep since June 14-16th, 2011, in Houston.
• Funny how teams match up. The Bucs can't buy a win against LA, but Arizona hasn't won a season series against Pittsburgh since the 2009 season.
• Right on time: Today's Snake starter, Wade Miley, is interviewed by David Laurila of Fangraphs.