Marlins-Bucs, Nova v Chen, Lineup & Notes

Today: It's a Saturday matinee with a 1:05 start (there's an evening football battle at Heinz Field between a couple of local schools, so the North Shore might be a bit crowded) and will be aired by AT&T SportsNet & 93.7 The Fan. Today's giveaway is a Felipe Vazquez bobblehead. Gonna be dicey getting this one in with scattered showers all day, but they'll try; the weather is forecast to be worse tomorrow.

Pitchers: RHP Ivan Nova (7-9, 4.35) takes on LHP Wei-Yin Chen (6-9, 4.64). Ivan missed his last start dealing with personal matters. Good time for a break - he's lost each of his last three starts. The team hasn't scored for him during that span, negating two good outings, along with a clunker last time out. Back in April, the Marlins collected three runs on six hits off Nova, who fanned nine in 6-2/3 innings during a 7-3 Bucco win. In his last three starts, Chen has given up just three earned runs over 19-2/3 innings (1.37 ERA). But he's been a homer - he's 1-6/9.35 away from Miami. The lefty hasn't faced the Bucs since 2016, when he held them to two runs in six innings.

He's back...(photo Pittsburgh Pirates)

Lineup: Adam Frazier 2B, Starling Marte CF, Jordan Luplow LF, Josh Bell 1B, Jose Osuna 3B, Pablo Reyes RF, Kevin Newman SS, Jacob Stallings C & Nova P. Give Clint a full roster and a lefty opponent...

Notes:

• Gregory reached his single-season high of 61 extra-base hits last night before he crumpled at second base. No word on how badly he's hurt yet.
• Cervy's also having a banner year - he's set career highs in home runs (11) and RBI (51), and his OPS+ of 126 is his best as a Bucco.
• The Bucs have won four straight games and have gone 6-3 in their last nine, They'll reach .500 with a win today.
• Today marks the 26th time since PNC Park and Heinz Field were built in 2001 that the Pirates will share the North Shore with Pitt or the Steelers. The last time the Pirates played at home on the same day that Pitt hosted Penn State, the Panthers beat the Nittany Lions, 42-39, in 2016.