Pre-game News and Notes 4/15: Brewers @ Pirates

The Pirates (5-6) will face the Milwaukee Brewers (6-5) on Thursday at 7:05 PM/ET for the final game of the home stand.

Following the game, the Bucs will fly to Cincinnati for a three-game series starting Friday against the Reds.

Lefty-hander Paul Maholm will face lefty Randy Wolf.

Maholm is 0-1 this season, despite only allowing three earned runs over 12.1 innings.

Notes:

• Jose Tabata’s 10-game hitting streak came to an end on Wednesday, after going 0-for-2 with two walks against the Brewers.

Manager Clint Hurdle was very impressed with Jose Tabata’s plate discipline during his final at-bat in the 8^th inning yesterday. Tabata, with the 10-game hitting streak on the line, drew a six pitch walk.

Hurdle told Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com, “I’m not saying it’s normal, but you’ll find players at times that will put individual accomplishments in front of the game from time to time. A young man going up there, knowing what he needed to do and got down early in the count… took a walk. He’ll have other 10-game hitting streaks. He’ll have longer ones than that. But it was very encouraging to see that that’s his mindset. His mindset is not that he can have an 11-game hitting streak.”

• Evan Meek pitched a 1-2-3 9^th inning on Wednesday. It was his first appearance since April 6^th (right shoulder tightness).

News:

• Catcher Chris Snyder is back in Pittsburgh tonight and will be the lineup tonight. Snyder was activated from the disabled list on Wednesday.
• Left-hander Joe Beimel should be joining the club on Friday in Cincinnati. He completed his rehab assignment with the Triple-A Indians. The Pirates will need to add him to both the 40-man and 25-man roster.
• Third Baseman Pedro Alvarez will get the night off, giving Steve Pearce the start at third.

Alvarez, who is notorious for having a slow start to the season, is batting just .200. Manager Clint Hurdle and Alvarez were out early taking batting practice.

Hurdle told Rob Biertempfel of the Tribune, What I’d like him to do is go up there and be reactionary. He hasn’t gotten off to the start that he would like or we would like but it’s still early and I’m just trying to get him to focus on a couple absolutes at the plate. See the ball, number one, get a good pitch to hit, number two, know that he can attack the ball anywhere in the strike zone, it doesn’t need to be in a teacup. And just hit it hard where it’s pitched. I can tell you that.”

Brewers:

Rickie Weeks 2B, Carlos Gomez CF, Ryan Braun LF, Prince Fielder 1B, Casey McGehee 3B, Yuniesky Betancourt SS, Erick Almonte RF, Jonthan Lucroy C, Randy Wolf LHP

Pirates:

Jose Tabata LF, Neil Walker 2B, Andrew McCutchen CF, Matt Diaz RF, Steve Pearce RF, Lyle Overbay 1B, Chris Snyder C, Ronny Cedeno SS, Paul Maholm LHP