Pittsburgh & Miami Close Out Series w/Rubber Match, Nova v Urena & Notes

Today: The games starts at 1:10 and it's Jackie Robinson Day and also Stoneman Douglas HS Day. The game will be on AT&T SportsNet and 93.7 The Fan.

Lineup: J-Hay 2B, Gregory Polanco RF, Starling Marte CF, J-Bell 1B, Corey Dickerson LF, Cervy C, Colin Moran 3B, S-Rod SS & Ivan Nova P. It's pretty much the big boys today; no Sunday lineup for Clint except for S-Rod. Fran is catching another day-after-night game; we hope the ol' skipper doesn't wear him down so early in the season.

No rest for Cervy... (photo via MLB.com)

Pitchers: RHP Ivan Nova (1-1/5.19) matches with RHP Jose Urena (0-2/5.06). Nova has pitched solidly in his last couple of games although still haunted by the long ball. He gave the Bucs seven innings against the Cubs in his last outing and it'll be a boon to a shaky pen if he can keep going deep into games. And he's been money against the Miami. He's faced them twice, both last year, and gone 2-0, working 15 scoreless innings and giving up just four hits. Urena is the Marlins number one rotation guy, but he's had problems in the first couple of innings before settling in, so an early jump by the Bucs is something to look for. He's 1-1/7.31 against the Pirates in four career outings (two starts). Last year, he couldn't get through the fifth but escaped bullets like a Houdini - he gave up 12 hits but only two runs.But he is a pretty good stopper - in 21 starts following a team loss, he's gone a 12-5/3.54 ERA.

Notes:

• Yesterday's game-winning RBI was the first bunt Corey-D has laid down since 2014 (looked it, too, but whatever works...) It kept his hit streak alive at nine games.
• Last night was just the second time that the Marlins dropped a 1-0 decision to the Pirates. The only other 1-0 game was a six-inning contest on September 14th, 1993, when Paul Wagner outdid Chris Hammond at Joe Robbie Stadium in a rain-shortened match.
• In honor of Jackie Robinson Day, all players will be wearing uniform #42 today.
• Daylight Savings Time: The Pirates have gone 6-0 in games played during the day this season.
• Hey, he's back (kinda) - Joe Musgrove is slated to beginning tossing tomorrow and work a bullpen session on Thursday.