Locke v Lohse

Jeff Locke (3-1, 2.95) takes on Kyle Lohse (1-4, 3.53) tonight. Locke has been solid in his past four outings, and when his command is on, he's been quite effective; walks are still a problem. He's only faced the Brewers once (five runs in four innings) as a call-up in 2011. Lohse, for his part, has also been a solid guy for the Brewers but has received a NL low of two runs per game from his hitters. The righty is  9-2/3.42 in 17 careers appearances (16 starts) against the Pirates.

The game starts at 7:05 and will be aired by Root Sports and The Fan 93.7; the Pens are on network TV during the rest of the playoffs.

Pirate lineup: Starling Marte LF, Jose Tabata RF, Andrew McCutchen CF, Garrett Jones 1B, Neil Walker 2B, Pedro Alvarez 3B, Russell Martin C, Clint Barmes SS and Jeff Locke P.

Martin is back, just in time. JT is in Travis Snider's place against a righty. We're wondering if Snider might not have a minor, nagging-type injury; his swing has looked a little long and slow recently.

Brewer lineup: Norichika Aoki RF, Jean Segura SS, Ryan Braun LF, Aramis Ramirez 3B, Carlos Gomez CF, Yuniesky Betancourt 1B, Rickie Weeks 2B, Martin Maldonado C and Kyle Lohse P.

Braun and Weeks are back in the lineup; that can't be good for the Bucs.

• In the last 96 games, Milwaukee is 72-25 against Pittsburgh.
• BTW, Milwaukee doesn't just run against Pittsburgh. The club leads the MLB in stolen bases with 35. Of course, they can thank Pittsburgh for that; they've swiped a dozen bases (12-of-14) in four games against them. Eight different Brewers have stolen a sack this season, led by Jean Segura (13-of-15) and CarGo (8-of-10). They're not exactly the ideal match for a back-up catcher; The Fort is 0-of-10 against them while Russell Martin is 2-of-4.
• Charlie Wilmoth discusses extending Starling Marte in his piece for MLB Trade Rumors. Tim Williams of Pirates Prospects covered the same topic a couple of days ago.
• Jeff Karstens made his first rehab start yesterday at Bradenton. He went three frames, giving up a run on four hits with no walks and four strikeouts while tossing 42 pitches; his limit was 50. JK is due to hit the hill again Saturday.
• Gerrit Cole pitches for Indy today.
• Henry Fetter of The Atlantic wonders why the Bucs are cast as villains in the Jackie Robinson movie 42. The Pirates historically weren't considered to be one of the clubs that infamously harassed Jackie, and one of their number, Hank Greenberg, who faced some heavy prejudice himself as a Jewish player, was among the first to treat Robinson as an equal on the field.
• Coming off of a weekend sweep of Villanova and its 40th victory of the season, Pitt's baseball team is now ranked in all five major collegiate baseball polls for the first time in school history