Cole v Jordan; Inge DFA'ed, Grilli on DL, Vic Black Added

Gerrit Cole (4-3, 3.89) takes the bump against Taylor Jordan (0-2, 3.32) tonight in a battle of rookie righties. Cole had won his first four decisions, but has dropped his last three as he's still looking for a breakout start. Jordan, a sinker ball pitcher, has just four career starts and is looking for his first MLB win. He's pitching as a replacement for the injured Ross Detwiler. It'll be interesting; both guys were in the minors last month, and both have a tenuous hold on the last spot in the rotation right now.

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

Pirate lineup: Starling Marte LF, Jose Tabata RF, Andrew McCutchen CF, Pedro Alvarez 3B, Russ Martin C, Garrett Jones 1B, Neil Walker 2B, Jordy Mercer SS and Gerrit ColeP.

The Kid is back, and it looks like Jordy  is still a step up on Clint in the SS derby.

National lineup: Bryce Harper LF, Anthony Rendon 2B, Ryan Zimmerman 3B, Adam LaRoche 1B, Jayson Werth RF, Ian Desmond SS, Denard Span CF, Wilson Ramos C and Taylor Jordan P.

The beat gang reports (and the FO confirmed) that the Pirates have DFA'ed Brandon Inge to make space for Neil Walker, put Jason Grilli on the 15-day DL, and will bring up RHP Vic Black from Indy; we're thought it would be Jared Hughes, but the Bucs are looking at a closer for a closer.

Andrew McCutchen recorded his eighth career multi home run game last night. Three of those games have come against the Nationals, including his career-best three homer game on August 1st, 2009 at PNC Park.

How goes the Pedro as clean up hitter experiment? After a very tiny sample size of 49 PA, El Toro is hitting .170 with 2 HR, 4 RBI and an OPS+ of 27. It's not much different career-wise. Petey's had 188 PA with 4 HR, 15 RBI, a .142 BA and 26 OPS+.

Jason Grilli was sent back to Pittsburgh today, where we assume he will be further evaluated by Pittsburgh's medicos.

The Nationals suffered their fourth straight defeat and ninth in 11 games last night.

Jared Hughes struck out two of the four batters he faced in a scoreless inning of rehab relief for Indy last night. He has tossed five zippo innings since beginning his rehab stint.

LHP Daniel Moskos just signed to play ball in Taiwan.