Cumpton v Pettibone in Rookie Rumble

Rookies Brandon Cumpton (0-0, 3.60) and Jonathan Pettibone (3-3, 4.17) take the hill tonight. Brandon is getting his third start. He's gone five frames in each of his first two outings and generally has kept the Bucs in the game. Pettibone has already met the Pirates. He made his MLB debut against the Bucs in April, giving up two runs in 5-2/3 innings. The game begins at 7:05 and will be aired by Root Sports and 93.7 The Fan.

Pirate lineup: Starling Marte LF, Russell Martin C, Andrew McCutchen CF, Garrett Jones 1B, Pedro Alvarez 3B, Neil Walker 2B, Jordy Mercer SS, Travis Snider RF and Brandon Cumton P.

Regular line up.

Phils lineup: Michael Young 3B, Chase Utley 2B, Jimmy Rollins SS, Ryan Howard 1B, Domonic Brown LF,
Delmon Young RF,  Ben Revere CF, Carlos Ruiz C and Jonathan Pettibone P.

Ryan Howard is hitless in 20 consecutive at-bats with 11 strikeouts; it'd be nice if that kind of production from the Big Guy carried on for one more series.

•  Josh Harrison was sent to Indy to clear a 25-man roster spot for Cumpton. 
• We'd expect today's scheduled starter, Jeff Locke, to go tomorrow after two days off.
•  Wandy Rodriguez has been given a PRP injection and it will be rest, treatment and rehabilitation only for up to three weeks. It may be "see you in September" for the lefty if his shutdown lasts much longer than that, and the speed of his recovery may dictate whether the Pirates look for another starter on the market or not.
• AJ Burnett threw a side today. At least he's recovering as expected, and could be back before the All-Star game, though more likely to join the rotation just afterward.
• ESPN's Mark Simon charted the biggest jumps in WAR for the month of June, and Starling Marte & Pedro made the list.
• Dave Cameron of Fangraphs posted "The Pirates - Can It Last?" His conclusion - "...they’re a solid team that shouldn’t be expected to fall apart, and their roster construction could make them a very tough team to deal with in October," comparing them to last year's Oriole squad.
• ESPN rates the NL Central as the second best division in baseball to the AL East, citing Chicago & Milwaukee as the weak links.
• Vin Mazzaro threw five perfect innings from the pen Sunday against the Brewers. The last Bucco to toss five perfect frames in relief was Elmer Ponder -  in 1919! Little wonder that Pittsburgh has the best ERA in MLB (3.11), ranking in the top three both starting (3.30) and from the bullpen (2.84).