Frankie v Chase Anderson; Lineup & Notes

Today's Game - Francisco Liriano (8-6, 3.19) meets Chase Anderson (5-5, 4.31) tonight. Frankie hasn't been pin point sharp lately, but he's won his last four decisions, helping his own cause with a  big bat, homering and driving in four runs in his last two outings. He owns a shutout win over the D-Backs from earlier in the year, and is 1-0/1.98 in three career starts against Arizona.

Anderson has lost three of his last four decisions. Chase was off to a hot start, cooled off some and then ended up on the DL thx to triceps soreness. This is his third start since rehab. He could give the Bucs problems; his changeup is his go-to pitch (along with 90-ish heater and curve), and Jeremy Hellickson tamed the Pirates with slow stuff last night. The Snakes lost both times he went up against the Bucs in 2014, with one strong outing and one bombing. First pitch is at 7:05 and will be carried by Root Sports and 93.7 The Fan.

The A-team is in the saddle against another soft thrower; we'll see if back-to-back looks help the Bucco bats any. Pedro dropped a couple of spots in the order, but this is a pretty good lineup from top to bottom.

• Pedro hit the 1,000th Bucco homer at PNC Park lats night. The Pirates have hit a home run in a season-high 11 consecutive games. The last time Pittsburgh homered in more than 11 straight games was from June 19th to July 3rd, 1994 (13 games). 
• Starling Marte has hit safely in all 17 career games played against Arizona, going 25-for-72 (.347) with 3 homers and 12 RBI.
• Arquimedes Caminero has tossed nine straight scoreless appearances, covering 10-1/3 frames. His 61 strikeouts leads all NL rookies pitching exclusively in relief.
• We thought we spied Corey Hart on the bench last night. He's in town to get his shoulder examined, and is expected to go to Indy Thursday to start rehab (again).
• The Pirates' September 6th game at St. Louis will be carried on ESPN's “Sunday Night Baseball.”