Locke v Fife In Dodger Opener

Jeff Locke (5-1, 2.39) takes the bump against Stephen Fife (5-1, 2.39) as the Dodgers roll into town tonight. Locke will try to recover from a seven walk effort last outing, and has been pleasantly effective when he's in the strike zone. He's been charged with three earned runs or less in each of his last 10 starts. Fife was added to the LA rotation this month after a rash of injuries and held up his end pretty well. Neither team is particularly on a roll; both are 5-5 in the last ten contests.

The game starts at 7:05 and will be aired by 93.7 The Fan and Root Sports.

Pirate lineup: Alex Presley LF, Russell Martin C, Andrew McCutchen CF,Garrett Jones 1B, Neil Walker 2B, Pedro Alvarez 3B, Travis Snider RF, Clint Barmes SS and Jeff Locke P.

Starling Marte is still out; hope his "rib cage discomfort" doesn't turn out to be an oblique injury.

Dodgers lineup: Yasiel Puig RF, Nick Punto 3B, Adrian Gonzalez 1B, Hanley Ramirez SS, Mark Ellis 2B,

Andre Ethier CF, AJ Ellis C, Jerry Hairston LF and Stephen Fife P.

Hanley Ramirez returns to full-time action after a hamstring issue, and AJ Ellis just returned from his rehab assignment. Everyone is eager to see Cuban wunderkind Yasiel Puig to decide whether or not he's for real.

• Wendy Thurm of Fangraphs discusses Gerrit Cole and Starpower, as it relates to putting extra fannies in the seats as he did for his Tuesday debut.
• The Dodgers may be a little short for the next couple of days. After their brawl with the D-Backs earlier in the week, MLB laid out some penalties: pitcher J.P. Howell and outfielder Skip Schumaker received two-game suspensions, and pitcher Ronald Belisario received a one-game slap (pitcher Zack Greinke & outfielder Yasiel Puig were fined). All player suspensions are subject to appeal; no word yet on whether they will appeal or just get it over with. Hitting coach Mark McGwire will serve a two-game suspension, and manager Don Mattingly was suspended for a game. Those suspensions cannot be appealed, and will begin today.
• LHP Zach Duke was signed to a minor league deal by the Reds after being released by Washington.
• SS Pedro Ciriaco was traded to the Padres by the Red Sox after being DFA'ed.