Cumpton v Bailey; Presley Down, Welker Up; Giancarlo on the Radar?

Brandon Cumpton (0-0, 5.40) goes this afternoon against Homer Bailey (4-5, 3.80). Cumpton started off on fire in his first start, but the Dodgers solved him after seeing his stuff a second time. Bailey is 8-2 with a 2.51 ERA in 12 career starts against the Pirates, with three complete games, two shutouts and a no-hitter. The game starts at 12:35 and will be aired by Root Sports and 93.7 The Fan.

Pirate lineup: Starling Marte LF, Jordy Mercer SS, Andrew McCutchen CF, Garrett Jones RF, Pedro  Alvarez 3B, Gaby Sanchez 1B, Neil Walker 2B, Mike McKenry C and Brandon Cumpton P.

Reds lineup: Shin-Soo Choo CF, Xavier Paul LF, Joey Votto 1B, Brandon Phillips 2B, Jay Bruce RF, Todd Frazier 3B, Zack Cozart SS, Ryan Hanigan C and Homer Bailey P.

• The pitching overload claimed a victim today. The Pirates have optioned OF Alex Presley back to Indy and called up RHP Duke Welker.
• Dave Schoenfeld of ESPN's Sweet Spot blog writes "...they (the Pirates) need Giancarlo Stanton in the middle of this order." He doesn't think it would take much to pry him from the Fish - just Jameson Taillon, Gregory Polanco, Tony Sanchez and another pitching prospect. James Santelli of Pirates Prospects makes his case for the deal in his post. But with Polanco rising with a bullet, maybe the FO would look for a rental guy like the White Sox' Alex Rios.
• Andy Oliver had another Andy Oliver-type outing for Indy. He went 4-2/3 frames, giving up three runs on four hits with seven walks and seven K, tossing 100 pitches. In his last nine starts, the lefty has tossed 43-1/3 frames with 47 K and 46 BB.
• LHP Mike Zagurski has opted for free agency rather than accept his assignment to Indy.
• 1B Stetson Allie was promoted to Bradenton in High A and Luis Heredia will start the season at Low A West Virginia. Allie's 17 HR are second in the entire Pirate organization, behind only Indy's Andrew Lambo's total of 18.
• Two old Pirate reserves, 3B  Gene Freese and C Danny Kravitz, died yesterday, per Travis Sawchik of the Tribune Review. Freese, 79, played with the Pirates from 1955-58 when he was traded for Ducky Schofield. He was a Wheeling native.  Kravitz, 82, played with the Pirates from 1956-60 and caught, along with Smoky Burgess and Hal Smith, for the 1960 Championship club.