Astros Back In Town

Jeanmar Gomez (2-0, 2.28) goes against Houston's Jordan Lyles (1-1, 8.36) tonight. Gomez's peripherals haven't been all that, but he's kept the team in all the games he's started against all comers and looks like he's got another three weeks at least in the rotation to make a case for a permanent spot. In five starts against the Pirates, Lyles is 0-4 with a 7.77 ERA. At PNC Park, his ERA is 11.42, so he shouldn't be lowering his ERA tonight. The game starts at 7:05 and will be aired 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, Russell Martin C, Pedro Alvarez 3B, Clint Barmes SS and Jeanmar Gomez P.

Regular lineup against a RHP.

Astro lineup: Robbie Grossman CF, Jake Elmore 2B, Jason Castro C, Chris Carter RF, J.D. Martinez LF, Carlos Pena 1B, Matt Dominguez 3B, Marwin Gonzalez SS and Jordan Lyles P.

It'll be interesting to see how Robby Grossman, a Pirate prospect who the scouts were sorta split over, does with Houston; he was a key part of the Wandy Rodriguez deal.

• Before we join the crowd piling on the Francisco Loriano bandwagon, there are a couple of numbers we'd like to see improve. Hey, his 16 K in 11 IP is sweet. But not quite so sweet are his 12 hits, 5 walks, 1.545 WHIP and 10/10/19 line of ground ball/line drive/fly ball outs. It's also fairly unlikely that the lefty will sustain his current 88% strand rate and not give up any homers this season. Swing-and-miss stuff will get you out of a lot of jams and he may be just getting his feet wet learning the NL, but we'd like to see deeper outings and fewer runners from The Cisco Kid down the road.
• Starling Marte's 24 games with at least one run scored and one hit are the most for any player in MLB this year.
• The Rockies have designated infielder Reid Brignac for assignment. Bet the ranch that the Bucs have interest in the shortstop/utility guy.
• Pittsburgh went 12-5 against Houston last season when the Astros were a member of the Central Division instead of the AL.
• The Bucs will wear camo jerseys today and tomorrow in honor of Armed Forces Day. They're giving out an AJ camo bobblehead Saturday and kids get an AJ camo jersey Sunday.
• Ugh. Along with his flexor tendon operation,  Joel Hanrahan also had Tommy John surgery.