Saturday: Jon Niese v Jon Lester, Lineup, Notes, Lotsa Roster Moves (Juan Gone), Meadows to Indy

Tonight: The game begins at 8:15 and will be on Fox Sports nationally and 93.7 The Fan.

Pitchers: Jon Niese (6-3, 4.60) takes the bump opposite Jon Lester (8-3, 1.89). Jon was clobbered in his May visit to Wrigley, touched for six runs in five frames, and is coming off a beat down from the Cards. Be nice to see him pick himself off the sawdust and get back on the bar stool. Lester is 1-1 v the Buccos this year, but has given up just one run in 12-1/3 IP. Oddly, the Bucs hit him around fairly well in his win but were RISP weak while they were basically shutdown in his 2-1 loss to Gerrit Cole.

Jon Niese will try to get back in the groove tonight (photo Associated Press)

Lineup: Jordy SS, Josh 2B, Cutch CF, JHK 3B, Freeser 1B, Matt Joyce LF, S-Rod RF, Erik Kratz C, Niese P. So Starling is still out, Stew is getting another day to rest his his aching bones and Gregory presumably is getting a blow against a lefty. The Bucs have been lucky with injuries in recent seasons; looks like it's all evening out this month.

• Much movement afoot - IF Jason Rogers, P Jorge Rondon and P Curtis Partch are with the big team. Rob Scahill was optioned to Indy, Cory Luebke was DFA'ed and Juan Nicasio was put on the restricted list. Clint said in the pre-game media meeting that Nicasio has personal issues to attend to and went home.
• The $64,000 question is who gets Juan Nicasio's rotation spot (listed as TBA for the upcoming Giant series)? If he's not back or relegated to the pen, Tyler Glasnow, Chad Kuhl and Wilfredo Boscan are all possibilities. Glasnow doesn't line quite line up as he pitched yesterday and is due to go again Wednesday while Kuhl is slated for Monday and Boscan for Tuesday .
• Dayn Perry of CBS Sports takes a look at the issues bedeviling the Pirates this season.
• We wondered why Altoona's Austin Meadows, with a 24 game hitting streak and a slash of .311/.365/.611 in 45 games with the Curve, was sitting last nite. It's because the 21 year old was promoted to Indy, putting him on a very fast track through the minors. 
• Curve LH reliever Jared Lakind set Altoona's longest single season consecutive scoreless IP record at 24-2/3 IP. The 24 year old was converted from 1B to the bump in 2013. 
• Adrian Sampson, who the Bucs traded for JA Happ, will make his MLB debut today for Seattle. 
• Casey McGehee is back in the show; the Tigers called him up.