Morton v Wainwright; Lambo Up, Presley Down

Charlie Morton (4-3, 3.88 ERA) takes on Adam Wainwright (13-7, 2.66 ERA) as the Bucs and Cards get it on again, this time in St. Louis. Morton started the finale against the Cards in Pittsburgh and was chased from the hill, though he was strong in his last outing. Wainwright is the St. Louis ace, and was given a couple of days of extra R&R to match up for this series. The Bucs beat him 5-4 in the last meeting between the clubs, so both should have a chip on their shoulder tonight.

The game starts at 8:15 and will be aired on the MLB Network, Root Sports and 93.7 The Fan.

Pirate lineup: Starling Marte LF, Neil Walker 2B, Andrew McCutchen CF, pedro Alvarez 3B, Russell martin C, Garrett Jones 1B, Jose Tabata RF, Jordy Mercer SS and Charlie Morton P.

No Andrew Lambo nor Clint Barmes, who hits Wainwright pretty well historically.

Cardinal lineup: Matt Carpenter 2B, Carlos Beltran RF, Allen Craig 1B, Matt Holliday LF, David Freese 3B, Jon Jay CF, Ted Cruz C, Pete Kozma SS and Adam Wainwright P.

• Alex Presley was optioned to Indy to make room for Andrew Lambo. Presley was hitting .264, but drew just one walk and hadn't shown much power. Additionally, it means that Starling Marte's hand isn't badly enough injured to visit the DL, so that's good news. 
• Pittsburgh is using yesterday's off date to skip Gerrit Cole's spot in the rotation. It gives Cole a break in what's been a heavy workload and also slips AJ into the rotation for the showdown in St. Louis. 
• Pittsburgh is 7-3 against the Cards so far this year; they were 8-7 against St. Louis last season.
• St. Louis' record is 5-13 since July 26th.
• The Pirates are 70-47, three games better than the Cardinals’ 67-50 record. By Pythagorean projections, a stat determined by run differential, the Cardinals should be 73-44, nine games better than the Pirates’ 64-53. Guess that's why they play the games.
• Mike Podhorzer of Fangraphs takes a fantasy look at Andrew Lambo.
• The Bucs extended their working agreement with Indy so that it now runs through 2016.