Worth noting

By Tom Singer

June 3, 2014

• Jordy Mercer's Monday night breakout was truly historic. He is credited with having become the first eighth-place hitter in (post-1914) Pirates history to have a four-hit, four-run game.

That had been accomplished only 16 previous times by No. 8 hitters in NL history -- most recently by ex-Pirates batting champ Freddy Sanchez, with the Giants on Aug. 24, 2010.

• Lefty Tony Watson was one of 15 Major League relievers with a spotless 0.00 ERA in May, but no one else in the National League managed it with a workload to match his 13 2/3 innings. Boston's Burke Badenhop (15 innings) was the only one of the 15 to pitch more.

• In their 10-3 win in the series opener, the Pirates laced nine hits with men in scoring position, their most since getting 10 against Atlanta on July 17, 2010.

• Stolmy Pimentel (shoulder inflammation) will make his next rehab outing Friday for Double-A Altoona; he is scheduled to throw three innings in Trenton.

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.