7:05 PM
Shawn Chacon (1-0, 2.84) vs. Mike Bascik (1-1, 2.29).
If you'd have told me in March that B.P. Chacon and Mike Bascik would both have sub-3 ERAs in June, I'd have laughed, but there you go. Bascik has only pitched 19.2 innings and has six strikeouts, so that ERA doesn't mean a whole lot.
The big news today is that the Pirates have finally designated Humberto Cota for assignment, replacing him on the roster with Rajai Davis. This isn't the shift in approach one might hope for - as bad as Chris Duffy has been this year, Davis is worse (pretty AAA batting average aside), and as such won't be the good bat the Pirates need off the bench. And Cota is, I would think, pretty likely to make it through waivers, which means he'll probably be the starting catcher at Indianapolis.
Also, the Pirates signed pitcher Dewon Brazelton to a minor-league deal. Brazelton was a top draft pick for the Devil Rays many years ago, but, apparently believing that a major league rotation spot was his birthright, he never bothered to do anything interesting in the minors. The Rays gave him lots of chances anyway, and predictably, he flopped, and then pulled a Duffy in 2005, refusing to go to Class AAA Durham after Tampa sent him down. He isn't a prospect.