Sunday: Brewer Finale, Glasnow v Zach Davies, Lineup, Notes

Today: The games starts at 1:35 and will be aired by Root Sports and 93.7 The Fan. It’s Kids Day; the 14-and-under crowd get AGH jump ropes. And if you get there early, be on the lookout for panting, late-finishing marathoners in town.

Lineup: John Jaso RF, Jordy Mercer SS, J-Bell 1B, Gregory Polanco CF, Jose Osuna LF, Phil Gosselin 3B, Gift Ngoepe 2B, Stew C & Tyler Glasnow. All Hands on deck! Cutch, J-Hay and Amore get rest days, no doubt timed to maximize the R&R with tomorrow’s game start at 10:10 Eastern Time. The last time Clint featured a clear-the-bench lineup, the Buccos scored a dozen against the Reds, so there’s a method behind the madness. JJ, btw, becomes the fifth different player to bat leadoff in 2017.

Pitchers: Tyler Glasnow (1-1, 6.97) v Zach Davies (2-2, 6.07). Tyler had a rough first frame last time out and then turned around and tossed five strong innings for his first MLB win. The question is whether that’s just part of the roller-coaster ride or real progress; we’ll get a better read tonight. He has two problems that are inter-related – Glasnow walks too many guys (17 in 20+IP) and works behind in the count quite often. The volume of pitches takes its toll; his second red flag is that he doesn’t get very deep into games. So attacking early and throwing strikes would go a long way to improving his results. Ty has never tossed against the Brewers. Davies is more or less in the same boat. In his first four starts, he was beaten beaten up pretty well, but his last couple of outings have been fairy sharp. He’ll need the confidence. In three lifetime starts against the Pirates, he’s lasted 10-1/3 IP, given up 15 runs on 18 hits with 11 walks and slashed 0-2/13.06.

Notes:

• A victory today would give the Pirates their third series sweep of the season and their first over the Brewers at PNC Park since April 17-19th, 2015.
• Another weird game stat: the Buccos are 12-2 playing Friday-Sunday but only 2-14 Monday-Thursday. Gives a whole new meaning to TGIF…
• Pittsburgh has covered the loss of Starling Marte OK so far – they were 6-7 when he played and have gone 8-9 in his absence.

• Looks like it will still be a bit before Fraze gets back into action, and the team has been mum on Freeser and Antonio Bastardo who are both eligible for return from the DL. 
• The Bucs will wear Penguin jerseys on the plane trip to the left coast after today’s game; the interaction among Pittsburgh’s teams is a sweet thing to behold.