PNC Park – The Pirates (65 – 43), fresh off of taking 4-of-5 from the Cardinals, take the field tonight to start a 3-game set against the Rockies (51 – 59). Gerrit Cole (5 – 4, 3.56 ERA) will go against Jhoulys Chacin (9 – 5, 3.54 ERA).
Leading Off
Jared Hughes has been activated from the 15-day DL and will be in the Shark Tank tonight. Vic Black has been optioned back to AAA Indianapolis to make room for Hughes on the 25-man roster. Manager, Clint Hurdle says it’s more based on availability than anything. “He (Hughes) has met the challenges that we wanted him to go through. He’s pitched two innings a couple times, he’s pitched back-to-back days a couple times. The quality of the pitches has been consistent and another fact is that after last night, Vic Black is not going be able to pitch for two days and we didn’t need to restock and revisit the bullpen picture.”
Hurdle’s Quotes
On Morton’s outing last night – “He was not fine with his command last night. The command was inconsistent, the breaking ball played early for two hitters he got two swinging strike threes. The breaking ball was never a factor after that. All of them came up short, so that’s a pitch as a hitter that you take and throw that pitch out. Now what are you going to look for? It all changes when you can throw in that breaking ball.”
On the hustle of Jose Tabata – “As far as the effort and the attitude – The man is engaged, he is embraced, he is ready on the bench, he’s prepped, he’s done everything that we want him to do and he needs to do to be a part of this team.”
On limiting Martin’s aggressiveness on the base paths and blocking the plate — “I’m not going to take away his strengths. He’s a backyard player, that’s what we love about him.”
Other Notes
— The Pirates have gone 7 – 1 at PNC Park this season during Friday night games…In those eight games, Andrew McCutchen has gone 13-for-30 (.433) with four home runs and 12 RBI.
— Clint Hurdle won his 750th game as a big league manager on Wednesday night. He went 534 – 625 in eight seasons with Colorado and 216 – 216 here with the Pirates.
First pitch is set for 7:05.
Follow Travis for Pirates news and in-game updates on Twitter @TBerardi_OVA or @OVAthletics
