Pirates v Cubs, Lineup & Notes

Today's Game: Vance Worley goes against Jason Hammel. Vanimal is undefeated against the Cubs, with a 2-0 record/2.39 ERA in four career starts, with two strong showings and two that were meh. Hammel is 4-3 in eight career games v the Pirates with a 3.88 ERA. The game begins at 7:05, with no TV (Bucs & Pucks nite) but will be broadcast on 93.7 The Fan.

Today's Lineup: Josh Harrison 3B, Gregory Polanco RF, Cutch CF, Neil Walker 2B, Starling Marte LF, Pedro 1B, Fran Cervelli C, Jung Ho Kang SS, Worley P.

Fran Cervelli is starting his 12th game and hitting .306 (photo: Gene Puskar/AP)

Standard lineup, minus Jordy who is out another day. Kang is making his third straight start and looks like he's getting a little bit comfortable in the box with a nice arm in the field, but doesn't cover nearly as much dirt as Mercer does. Clint may book some downtime for Jared Hughes and/or Tony Watson. Both have appeared in 4-of-6 games and been called on eight and nine games respectively.

• Jung Ho Kang's bases loaded (and clearing) double last night was his first MLB extra-base hit and RBIs.
• The Bucs have scored in the first inning in four straight games.
• The Pirate PR guys found out everything you want to know about Bucco leadoff homers: Josh Harrison hit his second leadoff home run of the season Tuesday night, the fourth of his career. The last Pittsburgh player with more than two home runs leading off the first inning in one season was Andrew McCutchen, who hit four in 2009. Harrison is now tied for eighth on the club’s all-time list for leadoff home runs, trailing Barry Bonds (20), Al Martin (10), Cutch (8), Bob Bailey (7), Cal Abrams (5), Omar Moreno (5) and Bill Virdon (5). Bob Bailey?
• The Oakland A's Ike Davis did it Pittsburgh-style yesterday. In a 14-1 game, he came in to pitch an inning and retired the side 1-2-3, all on grounders. Ray Searage should be proud!