Bucs v Cards For First Place

Hey, your Bucs are a game back and facing an early season acid test against the division bullies, the St. Louis Cards. James McDonald takes on Lance Lynn. Both guys have had a good outing, bad outing start to the year. The key for J-Mac seems to be getting out of the first inning in one piece. But he has had success against the Redbirds, going 4-1 with a 2.27 ERA in six starts/10 appearances lifetime against them.The game starts at 7:05 and will be broadcast by Root Sports and The Fan 93.7.

Pirate lineup: Starling Marte LF, Travis Snider RF, Andrew McCutchen CF, Garrett Jones 1B, Neil Walker 2B, Pedro Alvarez 3B, Russell Martin C, Clint Barmes SS and James McDonald P.

The lineup is starting to take a coherent form.

Card lineup: John Jay CF,  Matt Carpenter 2B, Matt Holliday LF, Allen Craig 1B, Carlos Beltran RF, Yadier Molina C, David Freese 3B,  Pete Kozma SS and Lance Lynn P.

The A Team.

• More moves: the Bucs restocked their bench by calling up Alex Presley and returning Phil Irwin to Indy. That doesn't leave them with much IF depth, with just John McDonald and Gaby/Garrett as the reserves, but does give them a lefty bat on the bench on days when a RHP starts.
• Starling Marte had his streak of first-inning hits end at six yesterday, though he still banged out a pair of hits. The 24 year old has reached base in 10 of 11 games this season and seven of his last eight contests resulted in multi-hit outings. He's hitting .347 with a .385 OBP.
• Travis Snider has been a sort of afterthought, but the RF has a line of .304/.385/.435 in a dozen games with an OPS+ of  131.
•  Elias Says that Mike McKenry became the third Pirate catcher since 1961 to homer in consecutive innings of a game last night, joining Don Slaught (’93) and Smoky Burgess (’61). 
• What a difference a week makes: The Pirates have scored 32 runs in their last six games after scoring eight runs in their first six. 
• Charlie Morton is tentatively scheduled to start a rehab assignment at Bradenton on Thursday, joining Francisco Liriano and Jose Contreras, who will take the bump for the Marauders tonight (although it looks like a rainout in Florida). It looks like the FO roll of the dice to keep them on the 15 rather than 60 day DL was a good bet. Only Jeff Karstens remains at Pirate City. 
• To celebrate Jackie Robinson Day, every Pirate will wear his #42 tonight. Robinson broke baseball's color barrier on April 15th, 1947.
• Indy's forgotten outfielder, Brett Carroll, was named the International League's Batter of the Week. Carroll led the IL with a .588 BA, 1.118 slugging percentage and nine RBI during the span.
• Kyle McPherson was examined by the Buc medical staff today. Rob Biertempfel of the Tribune Review tweeted that the righty got an injection for his elbow and will be shut down for next two weeks.
• The Cubs and Chicago reached a deal on modernizing Wrigley Field with give-and-take on both sides. The renovations will cost $500M, without a penny from the taxpayers, a concept unknown in these parts.