Friday: Bucs and Mets, Cole Train v Matt Harvey, Lineup, Notes

Tonight: The Pirates travel to CitiField for a 7:10 showdown with the Mets. Root Sports and 93.7 The Fan will air the game.

Lineup: Adam Frazier LF, Josh Harrison 2B, Gregory Polonco RF, David Freese 3B, Josh Bell 1B, Cutch CF, Fran Cervelli C, Jordy Mercer SS & Gerrit Cole. Fraze (3-for-27), J-Bell (3-for-34) and Freeser (6-for-51) could all stand to pick up the pace at the plate.

Pitchers: Gerrit Cole (2-5, 3.65) starts the set against Matt Harvey (4-3, 4.95). Cole Train has given up 20 hits (five have gone yard) in his last two starts, lasting 9-2/3 IP with nine runs surrendered. In fact, his last outing was against the Mets, a game the Bucs pulled out 5-4, and he was roughed up for 10 knocks and three homers in five frames. So let’s hope the Cole Train gets back on track tonight. Harvey hit a valley after a fast start, but seems to have found his rhythm again in the past couple of outings. He tossed a six inning, one run, six-hit, game against the Pirates in his last trip to the hill. That’s as long as he’s gone since mid-April, so the Bucs may want to work the counts a little deeper tonight. He’s also been taken deep 12 times in 10 outings, so it would be a good time to flex some muscles. Harvey has some contrasting stats at CitiField – opponents bat just .185 against him in the Big Apple, but he has a 5.09 ERA there as walks and dingers have hurt him.

Notes:

• Gregory has a nine-game hitting streak coming into tonight. Andrew has a seven-game streak of his own, and in the six games that he’s batted sixth, he’s gone 8-for-21 (.381)  with two homers, two doubles & five walks (one intentional).
• The “taxi squad” smoke has cleared – Max Moroff and Phil Gosselin have been officially added to the roster, Gift Ngoepe sent back to Indy and  Alen Hansen, who is out of options, was DFA’ed.

• Mike Lopresti of MiLB.com has a good read on Jameson Taillon’s latest scare and how he’s handled his travails, with pitching being his “safe zone.” JT makes his second rehab start tonight, this one at Indy.
• The Bucs rep at the dais during the draft will be ol’ closer Joel Hanrahan. Hanny will announce the Pirates picks after the first round (that’s Rob Manfred’s gig).
• There will be a new Mr. Met mascot running around Citifield tonight; the old one was canned after flipping off some heckling fans.
• Ex-Bucs in the news: Frankie Liriano came off the DL for Toronto while Ernesto Frieri opted out of his minor league deal with the Yankees to become a free agent. Pedro Alvarez reworked his opt-out deal with the Orioles.