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Charlie Morton starts against the Giants at 9:05. The Pirates need to make a move before the game to add Morton to the 25-man, so they'll probably send one of Josh Harrison, Yamaico Navarro or Matt Hague to Indianapolis. I'd like Navarro and Hague to be the ones who stay, but we'll find out soon enough.
Of course, if the offense can't start scoring, the imminent roster move and even Morton himself are just deck chairs. Barry Zito goes for the Giants. He had a complete-game shutout in his first start, and with the way things are going, you could hardly blame him for thinking it might be realistic to try for another one.
From David: In tonight's version of the Pirates lineup, Clint Hurdle has cast Casey McGehee and Josh Harrison as the Righthanded Platoon. Here it is:
Alex Presley LF
Jose Tabata RF
Andrew McCutchen CF
Casey McGehee 1B
Rod Barajas C
Neil Walker 2B
Josh Harrison 3B
Clint Barmes SS
Charlie Morton P
-P- The Pirates just made it official and optioned Matt Hague back to AAA Indianapolis while activating Charlie Morton.
-P- Gerrit Cole made his second professional start tonight (ok, I'm not counting the AFL) and I don't think he will mount the game ball from this one. 3IP, 4H, 4R, 3ER, 2BB, 4K. He had thrown 52 pitches through 2 (32 for strikes), so I'm guessing he finished around 70-75. He also gave up two HRs in the first inning.
-P- The Bucs won't be seeing Brian Wilson tonight or tomorrow. It appears Wilson is going to go on the DL with structural damage in his elbow. A visit to the good Doc Andrews appears to be in his future according to John Hay of the SF Chronicle.
-P- The Giants will be starting a lineup of all lefties/switch hitters against Charlie Morton. Last year lefties had a .960 OPS against Morton, righties .567.