Morton v Wacha

Charlie Morton (7-3, 3.00) takes the bump against Michael Wacha (2-0, 3.20). Ground Chuck has expanded his sinker repertoire to include a curve and change and has been getting stronger as the season grows longer. But the Cards have been his personal cross to bear. He's 2-8 with a 6.00 ERA in 13 career starts against the Redbirds. Charlie has gone 0-5 in his last seven starts versus them since winning a 4-3 decision over Kyle Lohse in 2011 at Busch Stadium. We're hopin' he's due.

Wacha is making his sixth career MLB start and has one outing against the Bucs under his belt, throwing two scoreless innings and striking out four in a relief appearance last month. The game starts at 2:15 (maybe; it's raining in SL and the game could be delayed) and will be broadcast by Root Sports and 93.7 The Fan. It's also the free game on MLB.com.

Pirate lineup: Neil Walker 2B, Garrett Jones RF, Andrew McCutchen CF, Justin Morneau 1B, Marlon Byrd LF, Pedro Alvarez 3B, John Buck C, Jordy Mercer SS and Charlie Morton P.

Only Clint Hurdle could love this lineup. And we realize Buck is a veteran catcher, but we feel much more comfortable with Tony Sanchez; August is a tough time for a catcher to try to catch up with a staff, especially a bat-first guy.

Cardinal lineup: Matt Carpenter 2B, Jon Jay CF, Matt Holliday LF, Carlos Beltran RF, Yadier Molina C, David Freese 3B, Matt Adams 1B, Pete Kozma SS and Michael Wacha P.

• The Pirates are 0-8 in series finales since beating the Fish on August 8th. 
• Cutch has a six game hitting streak. 
• Russell Martin appeared in his 1000th career game at catcher last night.
• Win or loss, the Cards shouldn't be going away. St. Louis closes with 16 of its final 19 games against teams with losing records, with the only winning club, the Nats, barely above the break-even mark. The Reds have six games with a team over .500 - Pittsburgh - and the Bucs have nine: three with Texas and six with the Reds.