Gomez Bucs' Last Hope v Milwaukee

Jeanmar Gomez (1-0, 2.63) will try to snatch a getaway day victory away from Hiram Burgos (1-0, 3.27) and the Milwaukee Brewers this afternoon.

Gomez, 25, is making his first Pirate start after getting 38 starts in three years with the Indians, posting a 14-16/5.18 line. Burgos, 25, who was drafted in the 6th round in 2009 by the Brew Crew, has started twice this year, and his only peripheral that's out of line is his 3.3/K per nine. Gomez only put up 4.9 whiffs per nine overall and 4.6 in 2013, so expect a lot of balls in play. It'll be interesting to see if the hurlers or batters have the edge, at least early on. Gomez has only faced one Brewer, Yuniesky Betancourt, and Burgos has never tossed against the Bucs.

The game starts at 1:10 and will be carried by Root Sports and The Fan 93.7.

Pirate lineup: Starling Marte LF, Jose Tabata RF, Andrew McCutchen CF, Garrett Jones 1B, Brandon Inge  2B, Pedro Alvarez 3B, Mike McKenry C, John McDonald SS and Jeanmar Gomez P.

A couple of hot bats are out with Russell Martin and Gaby sitting; ditto with Travis Snider. And keep a close count on Gomez's pitch count; 70 is his over/under.

Brewer lineup: Logan Schafer RF, Jean Segura SS, Ryan Braun LF, Jonathan Lucroy C, Rickie Weeks 2B,  Carlos Gomez  CF, Yuniesky Betancourt 3B, Alex Gonzalez 1B and Hiram Burgos P.

Alex Gonzalez is back in action; he was down with a tight hammy for a few days.

• Travis Snider is supposed to be good to go, although he's not in the lineup, and Neil Walker can throw a baseball but can't swing yet. The plan is for his stitches to come out sometime after the Pirates arrive back in Pittsburgh.
• Starling Marte's double to start last night's game made him 6-for-7 with two walks while leading off the first inning in the last nine games. He has a .636 BA/.692 OBP in the opening frame.
• The Bucs finished April with a .242/.312/.390 line and in the middle of the NL pack in HR (26), runs (110), ISO (.148) and walk % (7.8). The only stat that is dragging is their K rate (22.5%), 14th out of 15 in the NL.
• Maybe the Bucs out-thought themselves re: Bryan Morris. Rob Bietempfel of the Tribune Review reports that Clint Hurdle said the Pirates figured Morris would be getting a recall, so they kept him in a “holding pattern” the past few days to avoid overworking him. Maybe a little more work at Indy would have had him sharper last night.
• Jose Contreras, 41, tossed a scoreless inning for Indy last night and is on schedule to join the team in Pittsburgh on Friday.
• Mike Newman of Fangraphs features Stetson Allie's comeback as a hitter. Jim Schonerd of Baseball America also mentions him in Prospect Notebook.
• Joel Hanrahan just came off the DL for Boston and was made the set-up guy to closer Andrew Bailey. It's an ironic role reversal since camp, when Hanny replaced Bailey in the ninth inning role.