Charlie Morton will make his 2012 debut against the Giants tonight, after a brief rehab trip in the minor leagues. Of course, the Pirates are in pretty rough shape right now and it’s hard to imagine that Morton will be able to do much about it, since most of their problems are related to offense, but it’s still nice to get Morton back into the mix. In Morton’s only rehab start, he dominated over 7 1/3 innings. To make room for Morton, the Bucs have demoted Matt Hague, who’s apparently just the odd man out right now.
With Hague down in the minors, I’m guessing we’re going to see quite a bit more of Josh Harrison and Yamaico Navarro against lefties. Barry Zito starts for the Giants tonight and as a result, Harrison will play third base. Zito is Zito and you might think that would bode well for an offensive breakout, but of course he is coming off of a complete game shutout in Coors Field and at this point, I’m not going to wait around expecting much from the Pirates’ offense.
The first pitch tonight is at 9:05.
