Cole scheduled to face Dodgers in next start

PITTSBURGH -- Immediately after Gerrit Cole had assumed the role of a Major League pitcher, he wasn't about to assume anything else. Asked in the aftermath of his ballyhooed debut whether he was already looking forward to making his second start under more sedate circumstances, Cole played the diplomatic card.

"We got a lot of others looking to get in there. ... Charlie Morton is here, and James McDonald is getting ready," Cole said, "so I'll just get to the park tomorrow and take care of my business and see where we go from there."

Like Cole was going to go anywhere but back on the PNC Park mound following his boffo bow, in which he blanked the Giants into the seventh before settling for an 8-2 victory.

Pirates manager Clint Hurdle confirmed the obvious Wednesday afternoon, that Cole will remain in his regular rotation and face the Dodgers on Sunday, in the finale of this six-game homestand.

Cole will be matched up against the third former Cy Young Award winner the Bucs will have faced during the stand, Zack Greinke. On Tuesday, he got the best of Tim Lincecum, and Barry Zito started for San Francisco in Wednesday's game.

So in a few days, he'll get going on the body of his big league novel. Tuesday night's prologue was, to use one of his own favorite expressions, pretty cool. Cole celebrated with about 20 relatives, including his parents, and friends before returning to his hotel room, to fight to try to get some sleep.

When Hurdle got to the yard at about 12:30 in the afternoon, he found Cole already there.

"That didn't surprise me," the manager said. "He was pretty jazzed up."