Frankie v Jon Neise; Shake N Bake Lineup & Notes

Today's Game - In a southpaw shindig, Francisco Liriano (1-4, 4.15) will take on Jonathon Niese (3-4, 3.72). Frankie's not been all that of late, with poor control, deep counts and homers hurting his cause; his ERA is over four now. He's only faced the Mets once, winning in 2013 in his Bucco debut. Neise had a hot start, wiggling out of jams, but he's been lit up in his past two starts, allowing 14 runs on 17 hits in 11-1/3 innings while whiffing just three. The lefty has six starts under his belt against Pittsburgh, and he's 3-1, but with a 4.41 ERA. it should be interesting, with a pair of struggling vets looking to find their groove again. The game starts at 1:35 and will be on Root Sports and 93.7 The Fan.

Today's Lineup - Josh Harrison 2B, Jose Tabata RF, Cutch CF, Starling Marte LF, Jung-Ho Kang 3B, Sean Rodriguez 1B, Fran Cervelli C, Jordy Mercer SS, Liriano P.

Jordy's back in the saddle today (photo: Dave Arrigo/Pirates)

Shook up lineup today. JT gets his first 2015 start and Jordy's on the card with the infield positions manned by a totally different outfit than yesterday. The Kid, Pedro and El Coffee get a blow against the lefty Neise. A surprise pine rider is Corey Hart; he may be on borrowed time now that Sean Rod has passed him by.

• Cutch has a ten game hitting streak against the Mets that began in 2013.
• A victory today would give the Pirates their third series sweep of the season and their first of the Mets since the 2009 campaign.
• Andrew Lambo's plantar fasciitis that landed him on the DL is “still not showing...signs of improvement" per Clint.
• Pittsburgh's overworked bullpen has gotten a well deserved rest so far this series. They've been called on to work three times for just 2-2/3 IP against the Mets.
• The Pirates have been good boys so far this year; the only ejection came back on April 14th, when Clint got the heave-ho from David Rackley for disagreeing with his strike zone.
• Old Buc first basemen may have just been victims of playing out of position. Garrett Jones joined Ike Davis and former Indy player Clint Robinson as 1B with Pirate ties to toe the rubber this season.