Pirates Look to Broom the Giants, Nova v Holland & Notes

Today: The getaway kid's day game starts at 1:35 and will be on AT&T SportsNet and 93.7 The Fan. It's a double goodies day: the 14-and-under crowd will get a Bucco drawstring bag and moms get a beach tote. Mother Nature is not playing nice on Mothers Day, with the forecast for periods of rain and a t-storm.

Lineup: Fran Cervelli C, Jose Osuna RF, Starling Marte CF, J-Bell 1B, Corey Dickerson LF, David Freese 3B, S-Rod 2B, Jordy SS & Nova. As you may have guessed, lefties don't fare as well against Derek Holland as do RHH (OPS+: lefties, .451; RHH .853). And hey, lookie at who's batting leadoff - must be his reward for working a day-after-night game. Cervy is the first Bucco catcher since Jason Kendall in 2004 to top the order. But even more surprising may be Joey O in the two-hole. Clint the mad scientist at work...

Top of the order today for Amore (photo Dave Arrigo/Pirates)

Pitchers: LHP Derek Holland (1-4, 5.66) closes it out v RHP Ivan Nova (2-2, 4.84.). Ivan's hit on hard times in his last two outings (10 earned runs in 6-2/3 IP), so we'll see if he find his mojo again; he's been hurt by three homers, four walks and not-so-great glovework during his funk. He hasn't faced the G-Men since 2016. Holland earned a spot as a spring NRI, and so far has given consistently given the Giants five-six innings per start, with three or four runs surrendered. This is his first NL campaign and he's never met Pittsburgh.

Notes:

• Starling Marte is riding a seven-game hitting streak. J-Bell has hit safely in five straight games and has reached base safely in 10 straight.
• Felipe Vazquez has been money when called on for multi-inning saves. He's 8-for-8 in save situations of four or more outs in his career.
• Edgar Santana has made seven straight scoreless appearances.
• The Pirates have won six-of-seven and are in a virtual tie for the division lead at 23-16, just .005 percentage points behind the Redbirds. And the Bucs are good sons - they've won three straight games played on Mother’s Day.