Friday, April 20, 2018

Phils-Pirates, Nova v Lively & Notes

Today: Tonight's game starts at 7:05 and will be carried by the MLB Network and 93.7 The Fan.

Lineup: Adam Frazier 2B, Gregory Polanco RF, Starling Marte CF, J-Bell 1B, Corey Dickerson LF, Fran Cercevelli C, Colin Moran 3B, Jordy SS & Ivan Nova P. Hopefully the guys swing it a little better tonight.

Is he ready to breakout again? (photo Pittsburgh Pirates)

Pitchers: RHP Ivan Nova (2-1, 4.88) vs. RHP Ben Lively (0-1, 5.87). Ivan's actually pitched OK the last couple of outings other than for the unfortunate habit of serving up longballs. He's been showing off a pretty good curveball, but he sometimes stays in games a batter or two too long, which is likely more on Clint than him. He's 2-1/2.77 against Philly in four career starts. Ivan went 1-1 last year, winning a 6-3 decision at PNC Park and losing 4-0 at Citizens Bank. Lively's first outing was strong but in the last two starts, he's gone 9-2/3 IP and given up eight runs on 16 hits. He faced the Pirates once last year, taking the loss after giving up four runs (two earned) on five hits in four innings.

Notes:
  • Ivan Nova is becoming quite the road warrior - he's making his fifth start, and it's the fourth away from PNC Park. He's 2-0 playing in OPs; his only loss so far was in Pittsburgh.
  • Jordy Mercer is 9th in career games played (673) at shortstop for the Bucs and should pass Frank Taveras (715) & Bones Ely (736) this year. As for the others, well, gonna take some work to close the gap. Jay Bell (874), Gene Alley (977), Jack Wilson (997), Dick Groat (1,242), Arky Vaughan (1,381) and the boss man, Hans Wagner (1,887), have lots of time at the spot.
  • AJ Schugel made his second rehab appearance yesterday, tossing a clean inning for Bradenton. We're still not sure what's up with him physically as there was a full week between outings. 
  • Detroit Tiger via the Bucs JaCoby Jones hit a walk-off homer in the bottom of the 10th inning to give Motown a 3-2 win over the KC Royals. It was JJ's fourth career long ball and his first walk-off home run.

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