Friday: Tyler Glasnow v Carlos Martinez, Lineup, Preview, Notes

Tonight: The game starts at 8:15 and will be Root Sports and 93.7 The Fan.

Pitchers: Tyler Glasnow (0-1, 4.91) vs. Carlos Martinez (15-9, 3.15). Tyler is making his fourth start, and the first three have been less than memorable. He's seen the Redbirds once, going 5-1/3 IP and giving up four runs in his July MLB debut. Martinez has been strong against the Bucs with a 2.41 ERA in three starts, but has lost twice. He hasn't been quite as sharp down the stretch (3-2, 3.60 ERA in September) and has a reverse split at home (6-7, 3.81 at Busch, 9-2, 2.45 away).

Tyler Glasnow aims to derail the Cardinals (photo Pittsburgh Pirates)

Lineup: Josh Bell RF, Gregory Polanco RF, Cutch CF, Jung Ho Kang 3B, John Jaso 1B, S-Rod SS, Alen Hanson 2B, Eric Fryer C, Glasnow P. The Bucs got a good look at Fraze; guess it's Hanson's turn now.

Preview: Unlike the Cubs, St Louis hasn't used Pittsburgh as a punching bag. The Redbirds are 7-9 v the Pirates and 2-5 at Busch Stadium (35-43 overall at home). But the Cards are playing for something - they're one game behind the Giants for the last wild card and two behind the Mets for the top seed. With no pressure on the Buccos, it should make for an interesting weekend at Mound City. It's been awhile since the Pirates could play spoilers and offers a good playoff atmosphere for the youngsters to finish up the season.

• Starling Marte (back) for sure and maybe Jordy (forearm) will sit the series out, per Clint. 
• Pirates PR took a hit when it announced over the PA that last night's tickets could be exchanged for ones next season only to run afoul of a MLB rule that specifies the opposite if a game is played, even to a tie (in fact, no official MLB game has ever issued rain checks). Not a big deal, but the FO could wipe a little egg off their face because of that ooopsie promise by coming up with some other token of appreciation, especially as most of last night's fans were season ticket holders, a team's backbone. Maybe as a goodwill gesture they could send the ticketholders a Frankie bobblehead; they have a bundle of those stored somewhere.
• The Cards got a break when the Reds failed to challenge St Louis' game-winning double last night. Yadier Molina's two-out two-bagger scored a man from first, but had actually bounced off the back wall and kicked back, making it a ground-rule double that should have froze the runner at third. Reds' skipper Bryan Price didn't appeal until the umps were leaving the field and the crew wouldn't accept his beef in the runway, citing timeliness. More St Louis pixie dust, for sure, but given the situation, Price's bad for being asleep at the wheel.