Worth noting

By Tom Singer

August 30, 2013

• Entering Friday night's series opener, Pirates pitching had not given up a home run in the last nine games in PNC Park against the Cardinals -- while Pirates hitters had taken St. Louis deep seven times.

• The Bucs still have not let on who will be their starting pitcher Sunday, when Jeff Locke's spot in the rotation comes up.

However. it's pretty obvious southpaw Kris Johnson will get his first big league start that day (he will be added to the expanded roster, the reason the Pirates cannot yet make the assignment official). The Cards took a 15-20 record against lefty starters into Friday night's meeting with Francisco Liriano.

In his only Major League appearance, Johnson blanked Arizona for five innings Aug. 18 before giving up a pair of runs in the 16th inning for a 4-2 loss.

Tom Singer is a reporter for MLB.com and writes an MLBlog Change for a Nickel. He can also be found on Twitter @Tom_Singer.