Locke v Lohse To Open Brew Crew Set; Byrd and Buck Join the Bucs

Jeff Locke (9-4, 3.01) opens the Brewer series against Kyle Lohse (9-8, 3.22). Locke has had a rocky road since the break, with a 1-3 record in his last eight outings. Ground balls are finding the outfield grass, a regression would dictate, and he's responded by nibbling off the plate (14 walks in his last 17 IP), and regression is an innocent bystander for that. It's not been a pretty combo for the past few weeks.

Lohse, meanwhile is a sabermetric anomaly. This is the third year that he's out-performed his FIP, and he looks like the rare breed whose counting rather than predictive numbers tell the tale.At any rate, he's been consistently good since June, and he's always good against the Bucs with a lifetime 9-2/3.35 line..

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


Pirate lineup: Jose Tabata LF, Neil Walker 2B, Andrew McCutchen CF, Pedro Alvarez 3B, Russ Martin C, Gaby Sanchez 1B, Andrew Lambo RF, Jordy Mercer SS and Jeff Locke P.

Brewer lineup: Norichika Aoki RF, Jean Segura SS, Jonathan Lucroy C, Aramis Ramirez 3B, Carlos Gomez CF, Khris Davis LF, Yuniesky Betancourt 1B, Scooter Gennett 2B and Kyle Lohse P.

• The Bucs have acquired OF Marlon Byrd, C John Buck & cash from the Mets in exchange for minor league INF Dilson Herrera & PTBNL. Byrd is batting .285 w/ 26 doubles, 5 triples, 21 HRs & 71 RBI in 117 gms this season and is hitting .311 since the All-Star break. Buck ranks third among all NL catchers in RBI (59) & fourth in HRs (15) this season. More on these guys later; neither will be in town for tonight's game.
• The Cards beat the Reds last night 8-6 to dislodge the Buccos from a share of first. St. Louis is up by 1/2 game on the Pirates. 
• Both Pittsburgh and Milwaukee are 5-5 in their last 10 games. The Pirates have gone 9-4 against Milwaukee this season, including wins in five straight games and in eight of the last nine meetings. The Bucs haven’t posted more than nine wins in a season against the Brew Crew since going 12-6 in 2004.
• The Pirate pitching staff has an ERA of 3.21 with the starters at 3.44 and the bullpen at 2.82.
• Michael Clair of Yahoo Sports expects a bounce-back from Jeff Locke.
• Eno Sarris of Fangraphs discusses AJ and his two-pitch arsenal.
• He may be in Pittsburgh, but Tony Sanchez was been named an International League Postseason All Star.
• Rob Biertempfel of the Tribune Review tweeted that "...the Pirates are sending RHPs Tyler Waldon & Zach Thornton, INFs Alen Hanson & Gift Ngoepe, and OF Alex Dickerson to Arizona Fall League. Two more P TBA."