Pre-game news and notes: Pirates @ Cardinals 4/6

The Pirates will face the St. Louis Cardinals at 1:35 this afternoon for the final game of the three game series. Right-hand pitcher Kevin Correia will face Righty Chris Carpenter in the rubber match of the series.

• Some injury updates:

Right-hander Jose Ascanio pitched one inning in an intrasquad game.

Left-hander Joe Beimel (left elbow soreness) pitched one inning in an intrasquad game.

Right-hander Brad Lincoln (right forearm contusion) pitched three innings in an infrasound game.

Lefty-hander Scott Olsen (left shoulder inflammation) threw a bullpen.

Catcher Chris Snyder (lower back tightness) caught five innings and had three at bats in an intrasquad game.

–All without issue on Tuesday.

• The Pirates are 3-2 so far this season on the road and are just one game from picking up back-to-back road series wins since August of 2007.

Manager Clint Hurdle has been trying different things this season and is trying to shake things up. He told Nate Latasch, “We’re just trying to do some things differently, trying to find a way to recreate an atmosphere … maybe a routine that they fall into more at home than on the road. You become a slave to routines in this game and on the road, you can get into some bad ones. You get home late. You eat late. You sleep in. You get up. You go right to the park and eat. We’re just trying to get them up and get them moving.”

Pirates:

Jose Tabata LF, Neil Walker 2B, Andrew McCutchen CF, Lyle Overbay 1B, Pedro Alvarez 3B, Ryan Doumit C, Garrett Jones RF, Josh Rodriguez SS, Kevin Correia RHP

*Josh Rodriguez, will be making his major league debut today.

Cardinals:
Ryan Theriot SS, Colby Rasmus CF, Albert Pujols 1B, Lance Berkman RF, Allen Craig LF, Skip Schumaker 2B, Yadier Molina C, Daniel Descalso 3B, Chris Carpenter RHP