Today's Game - A duel of lefties is on slate tonight when JA Happ (9-8, 3.84; 5-2, 1.96 w/ Pirates) meets Chris Rusin (5-8, 5.11). Happ has been one of the steals of the deadline season, and his solid work continued last outing, even tho he dropped a 2-1 decision to Jon Lester. Jay has won five of his last six decisions with a 1.30 ERA during that span. The southpaw is 2-0 with a 1.86 ERA in five career appearances against the Rox, with a 4-3 decision over Rusin last month at PNC Park. Prior to that start, he hadn’t faced Colorado since 2011.
Rusin looks like a back-end guy, and has allowed at least three runs in each of his last five starts and has seen his ERA jump from 3.99 to 5.11 in that span (an 11-run thumping by the Mets had a lot to do with that spike). He's faced the Bucs once this year, giving up three runs in five frames in a 4-3 August loss. Overall, he's 1-3 with a 4.26 ERA against the Pirates in five career starts. The game begins at 8:40 and will be on
Root Sports and
93.7 The Fan.
Lefty on the hill; that means Josh replaces The Kid at second and Mike Morse mans first base instead of Petey. El Coffee, who's hitting .198 with a .540 OPS against southpaws, stays in; guess that beats having S-Rod in right..
- Man to watch: Starling Marte has delivered the game-winning hit for the Pirates playoff-clinching win the past two seasons. Three in row...?
- The Pirates are 24-6 against teams from the NL West this year.
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