With Jameson Taillon mowing down hitters in Triple-A while starting in tandem with Jeff Locke, June fast approaching, and an obvious date on the calendar for the Pirates to bring a minor league pitcher up (their makeup game against the Rockies has been scheduled in Denver on June 9th between home games against the Mets on the 8th and the Cardinals on the 10th), Jeff Locke is officially on the clock for the millionth time in his Pirate career. I think you can make a pretty easy argument to keep him in the rotation and move Juan Nicasio to the bullpen, but that can go either way at this point. Locke is pitching for a job (again) and I don’t know what use a pitcher is to you if he can’t beat the Braves.
Starling Marte is back tonight, and Wilfredo Boscan has replaced Cory Luebke on the roster. Boscan was the ultimate Taxi Guy last year, being called up or brought to the airport a ton of times but never used in a game. He’s been great as a starter for Indy this year, though, and could fill that swingman/middle relief role that the Pirates have been unable to fill at all to this point. He certainly can’t be much worse than the other options to this point.
First pitch is at 7:05. Mark Foltynewicz starts for the Braves. The Cubs lost today, so a win would be particularly nice.
