After playing pretty badly in Friday’s series opener against the Reds, the Bucs bounced back strongly last night on the arm of James McDonald and some big hits from Neil Walker and Alex Presley to even the series up at one game apiece. That gives them a good chance to get a series win this afternoon, I think, with Charlie Morton taking the mound against Mat Latos.
Morton was pretty good in three starts against the Reds last year, including two early-season complete games (one shutout) that helped announce that Morton was a different pitcher than he was in 2010. His mound opponent, meanwhile, has struggled in adjusting to his departure from pitcher-friendly San Diego. In his last start, the Astros lit him up for ten hits and five runs in 6 1/3 innings. The Pirates will be without Andrew McCutchen again today, who still isn’t completely recovered from the flu, but hopefully the offense that’s showed some life recently will be able to get to Latos.
First pitch today is at 1:35.
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