Pirates at Phillies
Francisco Liriano has only four wins in 2014, but the veteran left-hander quietly has been terrific in the second half of the season. The Pittsburgh Pirates will turn to Liriano on Thursday in the finale of a four-game road series against the Philadelphia Phillies. Liriano has allowed two runs or fewer in nine of his 10 second-half starts and is coming off a dominant effort his last time out.
The Phillies will go with former Pirates right-hander A.J. Burnett, who has enjoyed a bit of a resurgence over the last two weeks. Burnett will try to pitch Philadelphia to a series split after the team fell to Pittsburgh in two of the first three contests. Russell Martin drove in three runs Wednesday and is 5-for-14 in the series with a homer and five RBIs to help Pittsburgh move within 3 1/2 games of first-place St. Louis in the National League Central and remain 1 1/2 ahead of Atlanta and Milwaukee in the race for the second wild card.
TV: 7:05 p.m. ET, MLB Network, ROOT (Pittsburgh), CSN Philadelphia
PITCHING MATCHUP: Pirates LH Francisco Liriano (4-10, 3.74 ERA) vs. Phillies RH A.J. Burnett (8-15, 4.29)
Liriano, who pitched six scoreless innings against the Chicago Cubs on Saturday, has been particularly strong over his last three outings while going 1-0 with a 0.95 ERA. He has not faced the Phillies this season, although he has plenty of history against veteran outfielder Grady Sizemore, who is just 3-for-24 with 10 strikeouts against him. Marlon Byrd has faced Liriano seven times and recorded five hits - all singles - while knocking in four runs.
Burnett has been strong in two of his last three outings, including Saturday's 3-1 victory over Washington in which he allowed one run in seven innings. Burnett, who spent the previous two seasons in Pittsburgh, faced his former team on July 6 and gave up three runs over seven frames. He has worked at least six innings in six straight starts and is looking to win back-to-back outings for the first time since April 27 and May 3.
WALK-OFFS
1. Pirates 3B Josh Harrison, who had two hits on Wednesday, leads the NL with a .318 batting average.
2. Burnett has not allowed more than one home run in an outing since May 8 - a span of 22 starts.
3. Pittsburgh OF Starling Marte has a 10-game hitting streak and has recorded five straight multi-hit games.