Friday: Bucs and Mets, Cole Train v Matt Harvey, Lineup, Notes

Tonight: The Pirates travel to CitiField for a 7:10 showdown with the Mets. Root Sports and 93.7 The Fan will air the game.

Lineup: Adam Frazier LF, Josh Harrison 2B, Gregory Polonco RF, David Freese 3B, Josh Bell 1B, Cutch CF, Fran Cervelli C, Jordy Mercer SS & Gerrit Cole. Fraze (3-for-27), J-Bell (3-for-34) and Freeser (6-for-51) could all stand to pick up the pace at the plate. El Coffee has been moved up in the lineup to the three hole, so we'll see where that leads.

Gerrit has been in an icy stretch (photo Pittsburgh Pirates)

Pitchers: Gerrit Cole (2-5, 3.65) starts the set against Matt Harvey (4-3, 4.95). Cole Train has given up 20 hits (five have gone yard) in his last two starts, lasting 9-2/3 IP with nine runs surrendered. In fact, his last outing was against the Mets, a game the Bucs pulled out 5-4, and he was roughed up for 10 knocks and three homers in five frames. So let's hope the Cole Train gets back on track tonight. Harvey hit a valley after a fast start, but seems to have found his rhythm again in the past couple of outings. He tossed a six inning, one run, six-hit, game against the Pirates in his last trip to the hill. That's as long as he's gone since mid-April, so the Bucs may want to work the counts a little deeper tonight. He's also been taken deep 12 times in 10 outings, so it would be a good time to flex some muscles. Harvey has some contrasting stats at CitiField - opponents bat just .185 against him in the Big Apple, but he has a 5.09 ERA there as walks and dingers have hurt him.

Notes:

• Gregory has a nine-game hitting streak coming into tonight. Andrew has a seven-game streak of his own, and in the six games that he's batted sixth, he's gone 8-for-21 (.381)  with two homers, two doubles & five walks (one intentional).
• The "taxi squad" smoke has cleared - Max Moroff and Phil Gosselin have been officially added to the roster, Gift Ngoepe sent back to Indy and  Alen Hansen, who is out of options, was DFA'ed.

The Goose is loose again (photo Dave Arrigo/Pirates)

• Mike Lopresti of MiLB.com has a good read on Jameson Taillon's latest scare and how he's handled his travails, with pitching being his "safe zone." JT makes his second rehab start tonight, this one at Indy.
• The Bucs rep at the dais during the draft will be ol' closer Joel Hanrahan. Hanny will announce the Pirates picks after the first round (that's Rob Manfred's gig).
• There will be a new Mr. Met mascot running around Citifield tonight; the old one was canned after flipping off some heckling fans.
• Ex-Bucs in the news: Frankie Liriano came off the DL for Toronto while Ernesto Frieri opted out of his minor league deal with the Yankees to become a free agent. Pedro Alvarez reworked his opt-out deal with the Orioles.