Pregame News and Notes: Nationals @ Pirates 4/25

The Pittsburgh Pirates (9-12) will face the Washington Nationals (10-10) at 7:05 PM at PNC Park for the makeup game that was postponed on Friday.

Left-hander Paul Maholm (0-3, 4.30 ERA) will start for the Bucs against John Lannan (2-1, 3.43 ERA).

Maholm allowed six runs on seven hits over 3.2 innings against the Florida Marlins during his last start. Lannan allowed two runs on seven hits over five innings with two walks, three strikeouts against the Cardinals.

News and Notes:

• Andrew McCutchen’s final out at the plate on Sunday’s 6-3 loss to the Nationals is becoming somewhat of a controversy. If you didn’t see what happened, McCutchen, who was on third base with two outs in the bottom of the 9^th, was called out at home plate when he tried to tag up and score. Right fielder Jayson Werth made a perfect throw to get McCutchen at the plate.

Manager Clint Hurdle defended McCutchen’s decision to try to score and recently so did third base coach Nick Lyeva. Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com, has more on the story here.

• Infielder Brandon Wood will be making his Pirates debut today, starting at third base. Wood was recently claimed off waiver from the Angels.

Pirates:

Andrew McCutchen CF, Jose Tabata LF, Matt Diaz RF, Neil Walker 2B, Steve Pearce 1B, Brandon Wood 3B, Chris Snyder C, Ronny Cedeno SS, Paul Maholm LHP

Nationals:

Danny Espinosa 2B, Ian Desmond SS, Jayson Werth RF, Andy LaRoche 1B, Michael Morse LF, Wil Ramos C, Jerry Hairston CF, Brian Bixler 3B, John Lannan LHP