Charlie v Michael Wacha; Lineup & Notes

Today's Game - Charlie Morton (9-8, 4.54) draws Michael Wacha (17-6, 3.15) in the middle game of the series. This is a tough matchup no matter who's on the hill, and Charlie has been underperforming this season and lost four of his last five decisions. But he still knits together stretches of strong ball when his command is on; hopefully, that will be the case tonight. Chuck is 0-1 this season v SL, losing a 4-1 decision three weeks ago. Overall, he's been not so effective against the Redbirds. Morton is 2-11 with a 5.30 ERA in 17 career outings v St. Louis.

Charlie is looking to get the Bucs back on the winning track (Gene Puskar/AP)

Wacha hasn't been showing ace stuff in his last four starts. During that span of 20 innings, he's given up five home runs, walked 14 and surrendered 15 runs. He may be wearing down, having tossed 70 more frames already this season than he did last year. Wacha's managed to find a way against Pittsburgh, tho - he's 2-0 in three 2015 starts with a 1.93 ERA. The game starts at 7:05 and will be on Root Sports and 93.7 The Fan.

However, we wouldn't hold our breaths - it's supposed to rain through the night. And that makes things interesting with the season about wrapped up; there are showers in Thursday's forecast, too, making a twinbill problematic. Maybe it will pass. The Pirates have only had one game rained out this season, but have endured 14 rain delays at PNC Park totaling 15 hours and 33 minutes. What's one more? (Edit - the game was cancelled; they'll play two tomorrow)

Today's Lineup - Gregory Polanco RF, Starling Marte LF, Cutch CF, A-Ram 3B, The Kid 2B, Pedro 1B, Fran Cervelli C, Jordy SS, Charlie P.

The A-Team is on the card tonight. We'll see if the Buc bats can rebound from back-to-back shutouts. They've only managed to collect seven hits in the last pair of games; bad luck or bad hitting?

• Gregory Polanco picked up his 11th outfield assist last night, which is tied with Jay Bruce for the most among NL right fielders. The Pirates lead all NL teams with 36 outfield assists, with Starling Marte leading all outfielders with 15 gun outs.
• Stephen Piscotty was released from the hospital today after staying for observation overnight; looks like he'll be OK after his outfield crash with peter Bourjos.
• The Cards will clinch the NL Central title with a win today or tomorrow. 
• The NL wild card game is scheduled for Wednesday, October 7th at 8:08 PM and will be aired by TBS.