Liriano v Gonzalez, Lineup, Anniversary, Streaks, Wang

Miguel Gonzalez (1-3, 4.76 ERA) takes on Francisco Liriano (0-3, 4.25 ERA) tonight. Gonzalez has struggled this year, especially on the road where he's 0-2 with a 6.86 ERA in four starts this season and is trying to hang on to the fifth spot in Baltimore's rotation. He's never pitched in PNC Park or faced the Pirates in his career.

Frankie is about due; he hasn't won a game since September 10th. The Pirates, though, have won his last five starts and six of his nine 2014 outings after Liriano has left the bump. He's 2-3 with a 4.21 ERA in seven career starts against the Orioles.

The lineup: Josh Harrison RF, Neil Walker 2B, Cutch CF, Pedro 3B, Starling Marte LF, Ike Davis 1B, Jordy Mercer SS, Chris Stewart C and Francisco Liriano, P.

The game starts at 7:05 and will be aired by Root Sports and 93.7 The Fan. Scattered showers are in the forecast, but the game should be OK as the heavier storms aren't expected until midnight or so.

The Pirates still have time to right the ship. Going into today, they were only 4-1/2 games out of a wild card spot; there are a lot of teams besides the Bucs that are wallowing around in the standings. The question is whether Pittsburgh can get enough pitching to put together a streak and get them back in the hunt. This would be a good place to start, as Baltimore has lost six of its last eight games, although they are a good road team at 13-10.

• The Orioles swept a doubleheader against the Pirates earlier this season, and have won five consecutive games against Pittsburgh. 
• In celebration of the 35th Anniversary of the Pirates victory over the Orioles during the 1979 World Series, members of that team will be on hand for a special pregame remembrance at PNC Park tomorrow night. Scheduled to appear are Matt Alexander, Tony Bartirome (trainer), Mike Easler, Tim Foli, Phil Garner, Grant Jackson, Bruce Kison, Lee Lacy, Bill Madlock, Al Monchak (coach), Omar Moreno, Steve Nicosia, Ed Ott, Dave Parker, Don Robinson, Jim Rooker, Manny Sanguillen, Bob Skinner (coach), Rennie Stennett and Kent Tekulve will be on hand for a special pregame ceremony.
• West Virginia's Reese McGuire has extended his hitting streak to 12 games. Chris Dickerson at Indy stretched his streak to 16 games before whiffing as a pinch-hitter in the back end of a twinbill.
• The Brewers caused a little head-shaking here when they took lefty Wei-Chung Wang, 21, in the Rule V draft, a guy who had one season in the Gulf Coast Rookie League under his belt in the States.  He currently has a 16.43 ERA with the Brew Crew, and hopefully won't become another player ruined by Rule 5 by wasting a developmental year.
• Andrew Powell-Morse of Best Tickets has a positional breakdown of everything you could want to know about players - salary, experience, height, weight, etc. by position.