Pirates anticipating arrival of Dodgers' Puig

CHICAGO -- The Pirates' staff has not yet received any formal scouting reports on Yasiel Puig. But manager Clint Hurdle has gotten plenty of word-of-mouth reports from baseball cohorts on the meteoric outfielder the Dodgers will be bringing to town next weekend.

And the word is "fantastic."

"[Paul] Maholm informed me he's not ready to make the Hall of Fame yet," said Hurdle, citing the former Pittsburgh lefty who is now with Atlanta and faced Puig on Friday. "But if you make a mistake, he can hit it out of the park. And he's done some pretty remarkable things early in his career."

Maholm spoke from experience: He was working on a 1-0 gem against the Dodgers until Puig, in his fifth Major League game, hit his fourth homer off him in the sixth to tie the score.

"What he's doing is obviously electrifying," Hurdle said. "It's good for the game. It's obviously good for the Dodgers."

The Dodgers will be in PNC Park for games Friday night, late Saturday afternoon (4:05 p.m. ET) and Sunday afternoon.

In Sunday's game, Gerrit Cole, set to make his big league debut on Tuesday, could face Clayton Kershaw … as well as Puig.