Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Lefties Delight: Liriano v Hamels, Lineup & Notes

Today's Game: Francisco Liriano (1-2, 2.79 goes against Cole Hamels (2-3, 3.68) tonight. In his last outing, Frankie was touched up for a pair of homers, but it was his only non-quality start of the year. He's faced the Phils just once, fanning 12 in eight scoreless innings of four hit ball last September, beating his current teammate, AJ Burnett.

Cole is pitching as part of an ongoing audition for another club; the Phils have been dangling their ace on the market, waiting patiently for a bonanza. He's not on top of his game; Hamels has given up eight homers and 21 walks in 44 IP this year, though he was strong in his last outing against the Mets. Oddly, he hasn't seen the Bucs all that often, considering he has 10 years in the NL, with a record of 2-2/2.76 in seven career starts, with an excellent WHIP of 0.980.

The game and its marquee matchup starts at 7:05 and will be on Root Sports and 93.7 The Fan.



Clint's giving Rodriguez and Hart starts against the lefty Hamels; it's as good a time as any to give Gregory Polanco and Pedro a blow. Sorta surprised that Kang got a seat, but it's Clint's job to keep all the boys in the game, and he's looked pretty smart juggling in the past few days.

  • Neil Walker is working on a seven game hitting streak. Jung-Ho Kang had his five game hitting streak come to an end last night.
  • Hamels will be the just the fourth lefty the Bucs have seen in 34 games. That's probably a good thing. Pittsburgh is hitting .204 with a .631 OPS v southpaws.
  • Cutch has hit his last eight homers, dating back to last season, on the road with his last long ball at PNC Park launched on August 25th.
  • The Pirates have turned a MLB-high 38 double plays so far this season.
  • Clayton Richard debuted for Indy today, and went five scoreless frames, giving up four hits, two walks and whiffing four. In two minor league starts (his first game was at Altoona), he hasn't surrendered an earned run yet.
  • Dave Cameron of Fangraphs lists the Bucs as "darkhorse candidates" in the Troy Tulowitzki sweepstakes.

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