Game: Angels (25-29) at Pirates (29-25)
Time: 4:05 p.m.
Site: PNC Park
TV, radio: Root Sports, KDKA-FM 93.7
Weather: 80 and cloudy, chance of thunderstorms
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Angels
1. Yunel Escobar 3B
2. Kole Calhoun (L) RF
3. Mike Trout CF
4. Albert Pujols 1B
5. Johnny Giavotella 2B
6. Carlos Perez C
7. Gregorio Petit SS
8. Jhoulys Chacin RHP
9. Shane Robinson (L) LF
Pirates
1. John Jaso (L) 1B
2. Andrew McCutchen CF
3. Gregory Polanco (L) RF
4. Starling Marte LF
5. Jung Ho Kang 3B
6. Josh Harrison 2B
7. Jordy Mercer SS
8. Chris Stewart C
9. Jeff Locke (L) LHP
As if the Pirates didn’t have enough injury issues, a Wilfredo Boscan quick pitch caught Chris Stewart unaware and smacked him square in the left bicep last night.
“I gotta find a catcher, number one,” manager Clint Hurdle said earlier today, before the lineup came out. “One of them’s going to catch.”
Asked how his left upper arm, which was wrapped in a sleeve, felt, Stewart said, ”Still attached.”
Cervelli is still suffering from the slider that hit him in the right foot Thursday.
“Cervelli’s able to swing and throw, I don’t know how well he’s able to walk or run,” Hurdle said.
David Freese is unavailable today, but is going to try to grip a bat.
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The optioning of Rob Scahill and Boscan did not result from performance, but the need for fresh arms.
“They hear, and they understand. Nobody needs to like it,” Hurdle said. “That’s the hard part of it. I told them, the reality is just that, we need men available to pitch today and tomorrow and neither one of those is you. The street cred you pick up in that clubhouse when you’re able to go out there and do those things, it’s priceless. Those guys are going to hug you on the way out, they’re going to wait for you to come back and hug you on the way in. They know what you did and what you accomplished. This wasn’t about performance, lack of performance, on either one of your ends. This is about meeting the demands of the game we have today.”
Partch has a 1.30 ERA in relief this season, and had not allowed a single hit to a left-handed batter.
“I have a pretty good feel for my slider and changeup, so that helped out a lot with lefties too,” Partch said. “That changeup was big for me, getting that more consistent helped out a lot.”
“He’s been consistently getting a little bit better every time out there and it’s worked its way into June,” Hurdle said of Partch. “Finished spring training in a much better place than where he started. He started getting some traction down, velocity spiked a little bit in the window of the last couple weeks toward the end. He finished throwing the ball at the end of spring better than he had at any time earlier in spring or even in the middle of spring.”
Luebke is in his third stint with the Pirates. Injury ended one, ineffectiveness the other. Hurdle said he, Indianapolis manager Dean Treanor and Indy pitching coach Stan Kyles determined that Luebke needed reps to sharpen up.
“Location’s been better, everything’s spinning better,” Luebke said. “Just doing some things, just kind of protecting the elbow a little bit that with Stan and Dean we kind of worked through down there. They let me try some things out in a little less-stress environment. It was good. Figured some things out and just try to keep it going in the right direction now.”
First Published: June 4, 2016, 6:58 p.m.
