PITTSBURGH — The Pirates will go hunting for a series victory against the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday afternoon, with Jameson Taillon facing former Pirate Miles Mikolas.
While the Pirates would love to take two of three from their divisional rivals — the teams are tied for second in the NL Central — they’d settle for getting some of their young starts back on track.
Taillon’s 4.56 ERA certainly isn’t reflective of his talent level, and Gregory Polanco (104 wRC+) and Josh Bell (103 wRC+) haven’t been performing up to their expectations, either.
It’s made the Pirates 28-23 start all the more unlikely, considering the expectations for those three players. But if the Pirates want to remain in contention, those three are going to have to turn things around.
The Pirates are being patient — some may call it stubborn — with Bell and Polanco, but Polanco has been moved down in the lineup and he’s going to be at least sharing some time in the field with Austin Meadows.
NO NEWS, GOOD NEWS?
Ivan Nova (strained ligament in his right ring finger) had no update on his status for Tuesday, but Nick Kingham is not with the club.
PIRATES LINEUP
Gm 52: ☠ (28-23) vs.
CARDINALS LINEUP
Today's #STLCards lineup (5/27):
Carpenter 3B
Martínez 1B
Pham CF
Ozuna LF
O'Neill RF
Wong 2B
Muñoz SS
Kelly C
Mikolas P— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) May 27, 2018
CONDITIONS
Overcast skies are the only thing stopping it from being an idyllic day on Pittsburgh’s North Shore. Game-time temperature is forecast for 81 degrees according to weather.com, with minimal chance for rain and practically no wind.
