Weather Permitting: Jordan v Mad Bum, Lineup & Notes

Game: The game starts at PNC at 7:05 and will be on AT&T SportsNet & 93.7 The Fan. It's a free tee night but may be damp; a 60% chance of passing showers and maybe t-storms are in the evening forecast.

Lineup: Starling Marte CF, Melky Cabrera RF, Jung Ho Kang 3B, Josh Bell 1B, Fran Cervelli C, Pablo Reyes 2B, JB Shuck LF, Erik Gonzalez SS, Jordan Lyles P. Kinda goes to show the probs Clint has making a lineup when facing a lefty with the roster as is. The guys coming back will help - while Gregory (.218) doesn't hit lefties worth a dang, Lonnie (.251) and Corey (.271) hold their own while Elias (.315) rakes against southpaws.

JB gets the lefty-on-lefty start, with a .280 BA/.332 OBP lifetime slash v LHP (photo Elsa/Getty)

Pitchers: RHP Jordan Lyles (1-0/0.82) goes against LHP Madison Bumgarner (1-2/3.12). Going from a fastball-heavy to curve ball menu has revived Jordan and his return to the rotation. Against the Giants in his career, Lyles is 3-3/5.85 ERA in 19 appearances (seven starts), but last year, in five relief outings covering 6-2/3 IP, he gave up just one hit to San Fran while fanning five. Bumgarner has given the G-Men at least six innings per start with a WHIP under 1.00 this year; they've been cautious with him, not allowing Madison to hit 100 pitches yet. Mad Bum is 3-4/2.84 ERA in seven career starts against Pittsburgh.

Notes:

• San Francisco (8-12) has lost two straight and three of four following a stretch of winning four of five. They have three lefties slated to go against the Pirates; wonder if someone tipped them that the Bucs are hitting .209 v LHP?
• Per the Pirates, OF Lonnie Chisenhall is expected to begin a rehab assignment tonight with Indy. He's missed all of the season so far due to a broken finger suffered on March 28th after being HBP.
• Former Pirates GM Harding Peterson passed away at the age of 90 in his NJ home on the 16th. Pete signed with the Pirates in 1950 and worked his way up from player to GM, hiring Chuck Tanner and building the '79 Championship team s the top man.
• Lots of movement in the minors lately; John Dreker of Pirates Prospects catches us up.
• Chris Kamka of NBC Sports Chicago has a nice bio piece on Rob Mackowiak.
• Former two-time All-SWC selection and Bucco 2B Johnny Ray has been named a Southeastern Conference legend.
• Baseball America has seven suggestions to improve the MLB. Some we agree with, others not, but it does make a good starting point for some convo.
• Mark Townsend of Yahoo!Sports writes that frustration with the umps is reaching a boiling point. On the same site, Chris Cwik says frustrations among the players bat flipping and then getting plunked is also heating up.
• And another extension - the A's have inked Khris Davis for two more seasons at $16.75M/year.