Thursday: Pirates at Nats, Nova v Edwin Jackson, Lineup, Notes

Tonight: The Bucs are at Washington with a 7:05 first pitch. AT&T SportsNet and 93.7 The Fan will carry the match.

Lineup: Chris Bostick 2B, Starling Marte LF, Cutch CF, Josh Bell 1B, Jordan Luplow RF, Sean Rodriguez 3B, Elias Diaz C, Max Moroff SS, Ivan Nova P. Smart play in a couple of ways by not pushing Jordy, who is banged up, and Gregory, who is always a step away from the DL, in the last series.

Ivan takes his last bite out of 2017's apple (photo via mlb.com)

Pitchers: Ivan Nova (11-14, 4.14) faces Edwin Jackson (5-6, 5.40). Ivan has pitched decently in his past pair of outings and is looking to sail into the off-season on smooth seas. He was a workhorse this year even if the post all-star outings were ragged, setting career highs in innings pitched (185) and starts (31, counting tohight). Showing up on the road would help as he's gone 3-12/5.03 (compared to 8-2/2.80 at PNC Park) in 18 out-of-town starts this season. Nova hasn't notched a W since the Little League Classic five weeks ago. He's 1-1/4.63 in two starts against the Nats, but hasn't met them this year. He gave up six runs in four IP last year and won a 4-1 decision over Jackson while pitching for the Yankees way back in 2012. Jackson has struggled in September, posting a 0-3/12.38 line in his four outings, so he's shooting himself in the foot for a 2018 job after putting himself in a good spot by going 5-3/3.33 in his first 11 starts as a Nat. He's faced the Pirates once this year in relief for Baltimore, giving up two runs on four hits in 2-2/3 IP.  But spoiler alert: he's been a Bucco pain in the butt over his 15-year career, going 10-3/3.71 in 21 appearances against Pittsburgh.

Notes:

• Starling is on an eight-game hitting streak and has gone 12-for-24 with a double, triple, homer, six RBI and four stolen bases in his last seven games. Andrew has hit safely in four straight games (7-for-14) and in 12 of his last 15 (19-for-58, .328). J-Bell is hot, too, going 5-for-11 with a homer and four RBI in his last three games.

Starling is finishing up strong (photo Pittsburgh Pirates)

• The Pirates have won four in a row and 5-of-6. The Bucs took 2-of-3 from the Nats in May at PNC Park.
• The Nationals are locked into the second spot in the NL playoffs with 95 wins, way behind the Dodgers 102 and safely ahead of the Cubs 89 victories. So it's an interesting set for them; they get to use the series to rest the regulars and to get the rotation/bench in order for the playoffs.
• So the balls not juiced? The Pittsburgh pitching staff has served up 177 home runs this season, the third-fewest among MLB teams. The Bucs gave up 180 homers in 2016 and the club record for most home runs surrendered in one season is 183 (in 1996). So the team could set a franchise record for dingers in a year when they are among the stingiest, in relation to the rest of baseball, at surrendering long balls.