Bucs v LA, Notes

Jeff Locke takes the bump this afternoon against lefty Hyun-Jin Ryu. Locke was workmanlike (3-1/2.63 ERA) during the spring and will make his first outing of the year today. Ryu, 25, is a South Korean rookie, but the international FA, a Korean League star, has pitched in big-time Olympic and WBC games. Still, he might be a cure for the frozen Buc bats. The Giants touched him up for three runs and ten hits in 6-1/3 frames during his first start. The opening pitch is due to go off at 4:10, with Root Sports and The Fan 93.7 airing the contest.

Pirate Lineup: Starling Marte LF, Neil Walker 2B, Andrew McCutchen  CF, Gaby Sanchez 1B, Mike McKenry C, Pedro Alvarez 3B, Jose Tabata RF, John McDonald SS and Jeff Locke P.

The Fort gets his start, and John McDonald gives Clint Barmes a blow against Ryu on getaway day. It's the first outings for batterymates McKenry and Locke; only Chris Leroux has yet to make an appearance.

Dodger Lineup: Carl Crawford LF, Nick Punto 2B, Matt Kemp CF, Adrian Gonzalez 1B, Jerry Hairston RF, Juan Uribe 3B,  Tim Federowicz C, Justin Sellers SS and Hyun-Jin Ryu P.

• Locke will be trying to break an eight-game LA winning streak against the Bucs.
• Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports features the travails of Jason Grilli.  
• The Pirates have second highest K rate in the majors with a 28.9% figure while their 6.9% walk rate is in the league's bottom third. The Pirates .172 batted ball in play average is the leagues worst (a combo of some bad luck and weak contact), as is their .185 OBP. And they're still the only team without a HR.
• As bad as the hitting has been, the pitching has been remarkably tough. The Pirates are the only team in MLB to not allow more than three runs in a game this season and go into today's match with a team 2.09 ERA, second in the league to LA; their 2.59 FIP is third. The staff's 9.42 K/nine and 2.3 BB/nine are both in the Top Five of MLB pitching.
• The Indy Indians beat Columbus and Dice-K yesterday 5-3. It was the bullpens, not the starters, that made the diff. Kyle McPherson got an early hook, going three IP and giving up three runs while Matsuzaka worked five and left with the lead. Vin Mazzaro tossed four frames for the win, striking out six, while Mike Zagurski and Bryan Morris closed out the contest with scoreless innings. LHP Kris Johnson takes the hill today for Indy.
• RHP Stolmy Pimentel, who was strong during the spring, will get the call for Altoona today.
• Lotta Bucco minor league moves reported by Baseball America. The most noticeable is the release of Jeremy Farrell, who was drafted out of Virginia in 2008 but never got it together for the Pirates.