Game Thread: Nova vs. Gomber

The Pirates will try to make it two in a row against the St. Louis Cardinals Saturday when Ivan Nova (6-6, 4.33) takes on Austin Gomber (1-0, 3.22) at 7:05 p.m..

This will be Nova’s first start against the Cardinals this year. He had a 4.18 ERA in four starts against St. Louis last season (11 ER in 23.2 innings), but only one was a quality start. The Pirates lost three of those four games, too.

Goomber will be making his second career major league start, but Pirate fans have already seen the lefty once this year when he threw three shutout innings in a 3-2 Cardinal win over the Bucs in his major league debut June 2.

Francisco Cervelli will be starting at first base. It is the first time he has played first base since 2016 and just his seventh start at the position in his career (five came in 2014 as a member of the Yankees). Cervelli has been taking reps at first base in pregame routines since before he came back from the 7-day concussion DL, including yesterday.

Outfielder Corey Dickerson was reinstated from the 10-day disabled list. OF/INF Chris Bostick was optioned to AAA to make room for him on the 25 man roster. Dickerson is not in the lineup for today’s game.

Lineups

Cardinals

1B Matt Carpenter

C Yadier Molina

SS Paul DeJong

LF Marcell Ozuna

RF Tyler O’Neil

3B Jedd Gyorko

2B Kolten Wong

CF Harrison Bader

P Austin Gomber

Pirates

LF Adam Frazier

CF Starling Marte

RF Gregory Polanco

3B David Freese

1B Francisco Cervelli

C Elias Diaz

2B Josh Harrison

SS Jordy Mercer

P Ivan Nova