Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Tuesday Game #2: Juan Nicasio v Jacob deGrom, Oddball Lineup, Boscan In Pen

Tonight: The first pitch is due 1/2 hour after the first game concludes, with the match carried by Root Sports and 93.7 The Fan.

Pitchers: Juan Nicasio (4-4, 4.75) vs Jacob deGrom (3-1, 2.62). It shows the lack of depth in the rotation. Nicasio, who hasn't tossed a quality start since April and has surrendered 20 runs (18 earned) in his past 26 innings, actually bumped Frankie out of a start. deGrom has been working through some velocity issues, with his heater down a couple of ticks from last year. He can be wild, but even while working through some mechanical tweaks, he's remained effective - in his last two outings he's been touched for just two runs on eight hits in 14 IP with 17 K.

Juan is on the bump for game #2 (photo Joe Guzzy/Pirates)

Lineup: John Jaso 1B, Cutch CF, Gregory Polanco LF, Matt Joyce RF, Jordy SS, S-Rod 3B, Cole Figueroa 2B, Stew C, Nicasio P. We get some of the reasoning behind this lineup; Marte has a bum ankle from the first game, and we suppose Freeser and Jung Ho are on a short leash physically, so the Pirates want to avoid them playing both ends of a twinbill.  But Josh had three hits in the opener; can't quite figure that one out. The Bucs do have an extra arm in the pen; the 26th man for the nightcap is Wilfredo Boscan.

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