Archie v Yu Darvish, Lineup & Notes

Game: The fun begins at 7:05 and will be broadcast by AT&T SportsNet & 93.7 The Fan.There may be a few more t-storms passing through tonight. It might be time to see how Noah's coming along with that ark...

Lineup: Adam Frazier 2B, Corey Dickerson LF, Starling Marte CF, Josh Bell 1B, Melky Cabrera RF, Colin Moran 3B, Kevin Newman SS, Jake Stallings C, Chris Archer P. Fraze stays at leadoff; when you're 9-for-10, who says no? Jake gets consecutive games behind the dish with his homie Archie on the hill.

Clint keepin' him on top - Pirates image

Pitchers: RHP Chris Archer (3-6/5.50) bumps heads with RHP Yu Darvish (2-4/4.98). Arch tweaked his hip last game, but came through his side session without any pain, so he's good to go. What he'll deliver in terms of performance and length, well...although in his last two outings, he's given up just three runs in nine innings, so maybe he's found the light. Darvish still has the occasional ace game in him - he shut down the Dodgers on the 15th - but  homers (seven in his last 24 IP) have hurt him, though he does still have 105 K in 90 IP. The Pirates beat him 5-2 back in April. We can't help but to think what a marquee matchup this would have been in, oh, 2014...we'll see if they can conjure up the old voodoo tonight.

Notes:

• Felipe said that despite throwing 29 pitches last night, he could go today...the spirit may be willing, but don't think Clint would go for it. We'll see how it plays out tonight.
• The Pirates have gone 9-3 after going 8-20; freaky streaky. The Cubs, meanwhile, sorely miss the friendly confines of Wrigley; they've lost 14 of their last 18 road matches. 
• In a minor league deal, the Dodgers acquired ol' Bucco prospect Casey Sadler from Tampa Bay.