Sunday, September 29, 2013

Cumpton v Reynolds In Funday Season Finale

Brandon Cumpton (1-1, 2.45) will try to sweep the Reds against Greg Reynolds (1-2, 5.55) this afternoon. The starters are a bit of a changeup, with Gerrit Cole and Johnny Cueto originally penciled in should the game have playoff implications; the Bucs took care of that matter yesterday. Now the Pirates have Cole rested and the Reds have Cueto set to take the hill for Tuesday's one-and-out clash.

Cumpton hasn't tossed for a while, but he's faced the Reds twice before, the last time on September 22nd, going eight innings and giving up eight hits and two runs overall. A good outing will help his jockeying position for a back-end job in 2014. The Bucs haven't seen Reynolds, who will make his fifth start of the season. He's been off since September 18th, so both guys will have some rust to shake loose.

Another point: according to - It's cloudy today in Cincy, and there is talk of a possible delay in the game. The umps might not wait too long to bang it, if it rains. So there's that.


The game starts at 1:10 and will be aired on TBS, Root Sports and 93.7 The Fan.

Pirate lineup: Felix Pie CF, Jose Tabata LF, Travis Snider RF, Pedro Alvarez 3b, John Buck C, Garrett Jones 1b, Jordy Mercer SS, Josh Harrison 2b and Brandon Cumpton P.

As expected, the irregulars are getting their day in the sun.

Reds lineup: Shin-Soo Choo CF, Ryan Ludwick LF, Joey Votto 1b, Jay Bruce RF, Todd Frazier 3b, Zack Cozart SS, Derin Mesoraco C, Cesar Izturis 2b and Greg Reynolds P.

Obviously Dusty doesn't consider this an off-day; he's got his big boy lineup going.

  • The wild card game at PNC Park will be played Tuesday at 8:07 PM and aired on TBS
  • Neil Walker has a career high 16 HRs this season, the most by a Pirate second baseman since Bill Mazeroski hit 16 in 1966. 
  • Francisco Liriano, A.J. Burnett, Gerrit Cole and Jeff Locke are the first quartet of Pirates pitchers to reach double digits in wins since 1997, when Francisco Cordova led the way with 11 wins followed with 10 each by Jon Lieber, Esteban Loaiza and Jason Schmidt.
  • Dunno that we'd write home about it, but the Pirates have posted a 14-12 record this month. Even being so-so sure beats the past few Septembers!

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