Lineup: Adam Frazier 2B, Starling Marte CF, Gregory Polanco DH, Josh Bell 1B, Melky Cabrera RF, Colin Moran 3B, Bryan Reynolds LF, Elias Diaz C, Cole Tucker SS (Jameson Taillon P). Melky has been a key if under-the-radar pickup; imagine the OF w/o him during the past month.
Pitchers: RHP Jameson Taillon (1-3/4.06) close the two-gamer against RHP Shelby Miller (1-1/7.52). Jamo has been up-and-down in April, following a trend - he didn't kick it in until May last season and didn't really take off until the second week of July. He went 9-4/2.20 from that point on. JT has never gone against the Rangers. Miller's had five short and brutal starts this year; 18 walks & four homers in 20 IP have cost him. He's had 10 starts against Pittsburgh with a 2-7/4.88 slash, but he hasn't hurled v the Pirates since 2016 when he was a D-Back.
Notes:
- C Steve Baron is in the clubhouse. Fran's wrist isn't fractured *whew* and with no roster announcement as of 45 minutes before game time, it seems like Baron's call was just a precaution in case Cervy got bad news after the x-ray.
- Nick Burdi is seeking a third opinion re: his biceps pain. The Texas docs had "no concerns" structurally, but no answers apparently for the jolt he felt when he was injured, per Adam Berry of MLB.com.
- The Pirates are off tomorrow, then return home for a six-day, five-game stand against Oakland and the Rangers again.
- How important is the homer? Baseball Reference calculates that long balls generate 43.6% of the runs scored in MLB, the highest percentage in history, if it holds up through the season. Last night was a good example of how the Pirate attack could look if they lost a few more baseballs.
No comments:
Post a Comment