Thursday: Afternoon Delight - Milwaukee v Pittsburgh, Jamo v Jimmy Nelson, Lineup, Notes As Bucs Look For Sweep

Today: The getaway day matinee begins at 12:35. It will be carried by AT&T Sportsnet and 93.7 The Fan. If you are debating taking junior to the game, kids 14-and-under will get a Bucco velcro paddle ball set.

Lineup: Starling Marte LF, Josh Bell 3B, Cutch CF, Josh Bell 1B, Greg Polanco RF, Adam Frazier 2B, Max Moroff SS, Chris Stewart C & Jameson Taillon P. The getaway day lineup sits Cervy (day after night game) and Jordy, who is one of four Pirates with 90+ games under his belt (J-Bell 94, Cutch 92, J-Hay 91). The Bucs have played 95 contests.

Jamo toes the slab today (photo Pittsburgh Pirates)

Pitchers: Jameson Taillon (5-3, 3.06) ends the set against Jimmy Nelson (8-4, 3.27). JT had a rough outing last time out, allowing four runs in five innings during a 4-0 loss to St. Louis’ on Saturday. He's gone 3-2/2.78 since returning from disabled list so he was due for a clunker. His xFIP is 3.56, so he may be due to regress a bit, but his BABIP is .337, so he's also due for a little more luck with oppo hits. Hopefully it will all balance out. Jamo is 0-2/3.86 ERA in four starts against the Brew Crew, all in 2016, so it's a tabula rosa for this season. Nelson has been more than solid for Milwaukee. He's made a team-leading 11 quality starts and is 7-2/2.59 over his last 14 outings. Jimmy got a no-decision in a 4-0 Bucco win back in May, but worked three shutout innings in a game that had a long rain delay. He's seen Pittsburgh plenty, going 5-3/3.34 in 11 career starts v the Pirates.

Notes:

• Cervy has reached base safely five straight times (four hits & a walk).
• Max Moroff is the second Pirates rookie with a game-ending hit this season, joining Josh Bell. The last time Pittsburgh had multiple rookies with walk-off hits in the same season was in 2009, when Garrett Jones and Cutch had two apiece. It was Mad Max's first walk-off hit in the show.
• Freeser had his first multi-hit game since June 19th last night.
• Pittsburgh has one four games in a row; that's as long of a winning streak as they've had this year.
• If the Pirates win and reach .500 (they're 47-48 going into today), it will be the first time they've hit even-steven since April 16th (6-6). The club hasn't had a winning record since April 9th (3-2) and were nine games under .500 on July 3rd. They've won 10-of-12 since then.
• Following the game today, the Pirates depart on a nine-game, 10-day road trip to Colorado, San Francisco and San Diego. They won't be back in town until August 1st.
• JJ Cooper of Baseball America has a list of the Pirates Top Ten Prospects. Guess what? Austin Meadows isn't first.