The Braves are finally home tonight after their long roller coaster of a west coast road trip. They'll be taking on the 29-24 Pittsburgh Pirates who have been on quite the hot streak as of late. Since May 9th, the Pirates are an MLB-best 16-8. In that stretch they have produced the 2nd best ERA (2.93) and batting average (.277) in the National League.
Starting for the Pirates tonight is old friend Charlie Morton. Morton is 2-0 with a 1.93 ERA since being activated off of the DL after starting the season with a hip injury. Last time out, he allowed just two runs in seven innings against the San Diego Padres with an impressive 16 ground ball outs.
Williams Perez will make his fourth start of the season as he tries to build off of his nice start last week. He's 1-0 with a 1.00 ERA in his three starts. He hasn't allowed more than one run in an outing since joining the rotation.
Jace Peterson will get the night off after his hand injury and Pedro Ciriaco gets the start at second base. Juan Uribe will make his first appearance at Turner Field in a Braves uniform.
Here are the starting lineups:
Atlanta Braves |
Pittsburgh Pirates |
| Cameron Maybin - CF | Gregory Polanco - RF |
| Andrelton Simmons - SS | Starling Marte - LF |
| Freddie Freeman - 1B | Andrew McCutchen - CF |
| Nick Markakis - RF | Neil Walker - 3B |
| Juan Uribe - 3B | Jung Ho Kang - 2B |
| A.J. Pierzynski - C | Pedro Alvarez - 1B |
| Todd Cunningham - LF | Francisco Cervelli - C |
| Pedro Ciriaco - 2B | Jordy Mercer - SS |
| Williams Perez - P | Charlie Morton - P |
