Cole Hopes To Turn The Tide; Bucs v Cubs Notes & Lineup

Today's Game: Gerrit Cole takes on Kyle Kendricks tonight. The Cole Train will try to salvage a game of the series from Chicago. While he hasn't been overwhelming against the Cubbies, Cole has gone 5-0 against the Cubs in his career. Kendricks got a no decision earlier this month against the Bucs, giving up three runs on five hits over 5-1/3 innings. The game starts at 8:05 and will be on Root Sports and 93.7 The Fan.

Today's Lineup: Gregory Polanco RF, Jordy Mercer 2B, Cutch CF, Neil Walker 2B, Starling Marte LF, Pedro 1B, Jung Ho Kang 3B, Chris Stewart C, Cole P.

More shake-and-bake. Josh gets a day off - he has played in 20-of-21 games - and Fran Cervelli gets a seat; wonder if those five steals last night had anything to do with that?

Stew is donning the tools tonight (photo: Getty Images)

• Could be a "circle the calendar" night for Cutch. Andrew is just two knocks away from career hit #1,000. 
• The Bucs go into the game at 11-10. A victory tonight would give the Pirates a winning record in April for only the fourth time in the last 20 years: 15-12 in 2013, 11-10 in 2009, 14-10 in 2002.
• The lack of walks is disappointing (4.8%, last in MLB), but not surprising. Russell Martin, Ike Davis, Travis Snider and Gaby Sanchez combined for 173 free passes last year, and that's a lot to make up. The league average for walks is 7.6%, and Cutch is the only regular much above it at 11.1%; Jordy Mercer is a nit over at 7.7%.
• FanGraphs Brett Talley is liking Arquimedes Caminero.
• Two Pirates were included by ESPN's Keith Law in his "25 under 25: MLB's Top Players Under Age 25." They were Gerrit Cole (#9) and Gregory Polanco (#12). 

Yes, it's All-Star time again. Your Bucco nominees are: