What we do know is that Jeff Karstens will not be making a rehab start today. The right-hander is in Pittsburgh, but was unavailable to speak to media today. Pirates skipper Clint Hurdle yanked him from his scheduled rehab assignment and said that he will make a start on the roadtrip. When is still in question. Could it be today? Although Kevin Correia is in the lineup, there have been rumors that the club is pushing to trade him. Could Karstens start tomorrow in Philly and bump the rest of the rotation a day? Hurdle said he will provide more information after the game and tomorrow on how they plan on shuffling the starting rotation.

“He’s not going to Indy,” Hurdle said. “He’s here. We’re going to have him make a start on this road trip. We’ll let you know accordingly, but we are going to have him travel with us and he is going to make a start on the road trip.”

After Brad Lincoln’s performance last night, I can’t imagine the club would remove him from starting. Although it was just one really impressive start after scuffling his three previous, the Pirates continued to give him ample looks as a starter instead of calling up Jeff Locke or Rudy Owens from Triple-A for a spot start. Lincoln told me he didn’t know yet if he will start on Thursday in Philly. As of now, the probables set for the Philly series is: Erik Bedard Monday, James McDonald Tuesday, A.J. Burnett Wednesday, and Lincoln Thursday. That however, will shuffle with Karstens.

“We’re going to take care of one thing at a time and pitch it one day at a time as we go out,” Hurdle said on Lincoln’s status. “There will be more information following today’s game probably for you and tomorrow.”

– Neil Walker is getting a scheduled day off today, Hurdle said. He’s healthy. Walker is batting just .167 over his last three days.

“If you look at the games played, he’s played more games here than anybody this season. He’s getting a day,” Hurdle said.

– Because Walker is out of the Lineup, Hurdle bumped Pedro Alvarez to the fifth spot. That, however, isn’t expected to stay that way. Hurdle explained that it was more to provide Alvarez more protection with Casey McGehee batting cleanup and Jones behind him hitting sixth.

“Protection No. 1 for Pedro,” Hurdle said. “Left-handers if you look at the numbers, this is a reverse split guy. You want to keep your left-handers that you think will be able to do some damage in the lineup. I do anyway. Protecting anybody else besides Jones. McGehee’s had some more success than Jones has against Verlander. I just thought that would be better protection for Pedro to have Jones behind him. I don’t plan on moving him up to fifth for an extended period of time. This is basically because of Walker’s absence as much as anything.”

– A few arms will not be available from the bullpen today. Jason Grilli and Jared Hughes, Hurdle said are definitively down. Lefty Tony Watson could be situational, leaving Doug Slaten as the possible lone left-hander. Only Joel Hanrahan and Hughes have pitched on back-to-back days this season, so Hurdle said that Watson was still in conversation.

“We’re deciding about Watty, but Grilli and Hughes is unavailable today,” Hurdle said.

Pirates lineup: Alex Presley LF, Josh Harrison 2B, Andrew McCutchen CF, Casey McGehee 1B, Pedro Alvarez 3B, Garrett Jones RF, Clint Barmes SS, Michael McKenry C, Kevin Correia RHP

Tigers lineup: Austin Jackson CF, Quinton Berry RF, Miguel Cabrera 3B, Prince Fielder 1B, Delmon Young LF, Alex Avila C, Jhonny Peralta SS, Ryan Raburn 2B, Justin Verlander RHP

Yesterday, Lincoln told me about what he was working on during the days in between his starts. The focus was on fastball command and keeping himself closed. Pirates Manager Clint Hurdle said after his start in Cleveland that a lot of times, Lincoln was easy to see.

“Especially when I do get ahead in the count, be able to put the ball off the plate instead of on the corner,” Lincoln said of fastball command. “I worked on that a lot in my bullpen. Just being able to throw my breaking ball for an out pitch instead of being so constantly worried about getting it over for a strike. It tends to hurt me when I do get deep in the count.”

“He worked on it before his last start, unfortunately he wasn’t able to translate it as well,” Hurdle said. “A lot of effort was put in to just staying closed. He had been able to do that in shorter periods of time out of the bullpen. It just seemed in his last couple starts he wasn’t as consistent in keeping it closed and having that deception –especially with his fastball.”

With Jeff Karstens just a rehab start from returning to the rotation, Lincoln may just have one final chance today to prove that he can be a Major League starter. If not, Lincoln has dominant numbers to be a back-end guy in the bullpen. He’s posted a 0.45 ERA over 20.0 innings with 23 punchouts in relief this year.

– Today’s game is a 4:05 start due to a FOX Broadcast. Hurdle said there isnt’ really challenges at PNC Park due to the sun during that time in the day.

“We don’t believe it is because we’ve gone out when it first was brought to us at 4:05 and paid attention to the sun setting and the shadows,” Hurdle said. “It’s nothing like it is in St. Louis or some of the other venues we’ve been. We don’t anticipate those challenges.”

– The Pirates have gone 9-2 in games played on Saturday’s this season –including a 6-0 record at home. Pedro Alvarez is hitting .295 with 10 of his 13 home runs coming in day games.

– Pittsburgh’s 15-4 record at home since May 12 is the best in the Major Leagues and only the Dodgers (24) and Mets (23) have more home wins in the Majors this season.

– Pirates lineup: Presley 7, Tabata 9, McCutchen 8, Jones 3, Walker 4, Alvarez 5, Barajas 5, Barajas 2, Harrison 6, Lincoln 1

– Tigers lineup: Jackson 8, Boesch 9, Cabrera 5, Fielder 3, Yong 7, Avila 2, Peralta 6, Santiago 4, Scherzer 1

“When a pitchers got his command, he’s obviously going to execute his pitches better,” Manager Clint Hurdle said. “As the season wears on and the grind, the volume of pitches and things sometimes they add up and they become walls. Whether they’re mechanical, or whether they’re mental, you work through them. You continue to try and get better. He’s taken it upon himself to try and tighten some things up from the last start to this start. There is some side work involved. Just revisiting some things. I think it’s always going to be challenging to grab a short snapshot and say, ‘This is what he is.’ Because we’ve seen him very good against good competition. Then we’ve seen him not have his best stuff, or his best command, or his best execution, and that never plays out well at this level.”

– Bill Mazeroski and Bill Virdon will no longer be on the bench for the Pirates during games this season. Both veteran players joined the team in Pittsburgh yesterday, but Hurdle said today that he got a call from MLB saying that they were no longer able to be there during the game.

“It’s really not within the rules and the regulations of the game, which I might have overlooked or got by me in my excitement to get them involved,” Hurdle said. “They’ll be out there with us on the field for all the pregame work and then once the game starts, we’ll find a place for them to enjoy the game and to put their experienced eyes on us from a different venue.”

“It was just a call that was made to [General Manager] Neal [Huntington]. We were told that would be the end of it…It didn’t surprise me. That’s why I went to [Twins skipper Ron] Gardenhire because I figured I’d get an okay there,” Hurdle said with a smile.

–The Bucs have won five straight home games and nine of their last 10 while going 20-11 overall at PNC Park this season. Pittsburgh’s 13-3 home record since May 12 is the best in the Major Leagues.

– Pittsburgh has scored 82 runs so far this month, ranking third among all National League teams behind Cincinnati (95) and New York (86). The Pirates are also third among N.L. teams with 22 home runs hit in June, trailing only Milwaukee (26) and Cincinnati (24).

– Pirates lineup: Jose Tabata LF, Josh Harrison RF, Andrew McCutchen CF, Casey McGehee 1B, Neil Walker 2B, Pedro Alvarez 3B, Clint Barmes SS, Michael McKenry C, Erik Bedard LHP

– Twins lineup: Denard Span CF, Ben Revere RF, Josh Willingham LF, Justin Morneau 1B, Trevor Plouffe 3B, Brian Dozier SS, Jamey Carroll 2B, Drew Butera C, Francisco Liriano LHP

“I’ve been searching for ways to just add value to just everything we do throughout the season,” Hurdle said. ” I thought it might be nice when talking with these men when we left spring training that we just didn’t stop there with it. That we find time during the season that made sense for them to bring them back in…This isn’t a fantasy camp thing. This isn’t spring training. We’re going to have them here to help coach and teach…We’ve always talked to Maz and Bill about joining some road trips sometime. This isn’t an autograph signing. This isn’t good will. This isn’t community outreach. We brought them in for specific reason for them to bring us something that hopefully we can give something in return. Everybody wins.”

The impact and teachings that these former players can provide to the team –especially help the young players grow can make a big difference.

“Those are two Major League players,” Hurdle said. “One of them in a Hall of Famer. One of them is a Rookie-of-the-Year. They’ve got great ties to our organization. They’re part of our history. They’re out of our spring training environment. These games count…Going on the field, doing some coaching and then staying in the dugout through the game. They’re here to help me and my coaches help grow up these young men on the field, in the dugout and in the clubhouse. I couldn’t be happier that both of them were able to make it here.”back

Former Bucco Ryan Doumit returns to Pittsburgh for the first time since the club declined his option for this season.

“We know him. He knows us,” Hurdle said. “We’ll wish him well when he leaves. He made contributions here. He gave it everything he had last year for my first year here so I’m appreciative of that. He put a lot of time and effort, energy and passion into the Pirates organization. Once the game starts, we’re going to try and get him out. It’s always nice to see him before the game and say hello.”

With Interleague play still in effect, the Pirates will face the Minnesota Twins for a three game set. The Bucs will have the challenge of facing three pitchers on the bump that they are not familiar with in Scott Diamond, Francisco Liriano and Liam Hendriks. The Twins are at PNC for the first time since 2006 when they swept the Bucs in a three-game series in June.

“You look at the tapes so at least there is some familiarity of seeing on tape, the repeating of the motion,” Hurdle said. “Try to get some tape from behind the catcher as well so you can actually see the pitcher full-front. 95 percent of all tape work is done from center field. It’s always been mind boggling for me from a hitters perspective. When I got to Texas, I flipped around for the hitters so they see the front of the pitchers that are throwing. Scouting report, you do rely heavily upon because these guys have been out advancing, as far as selection of pitches, uses of pitches, count usage, things of that nature.”

– Andrew McCutchen has a Major League leading .458 average against left-handers this season, including 19 hits in his last 34 at-bats. Pittsburgh has gone 8-1 in games started by a southpaw on the mound.

– Pedro Alvarez homered twice Saturday and Sunday, marking the second time that he has had multiple home runs in consecutive games in his career (Also July 20-21 in 2010). The only other Pittsburgh player has had two or more home runs in consecutive games multiple times is Hall-of-Famer Ralph Kiner (Twice in 1947 and once in 1949).

– Pirates lineup: Jose Tabata 7, Josh Harrison 9, Andrew McCutchen 8, Casey McGehee 3, Neil Walker 4, Pedro Alvarez 5, Rod Barajas 2, Clint Barmes 6, Kevin Correia 1

Twins lineup — Denard Span 8, Ben Revere 9, Josh Willingham 7, Justin Morneau 3, Trevor Plouffe 5, Ryan Doumit 2, Brian Dozier 6, Jamey Carroll 4, Scott Diamond 1

Here is a video interview with Cole on his promotion to Altoona and what was working so well for him while with the High-A Bradenton Maruaders.

With Jeff Karstens on the brink of returning from the DL and several prospects in Triple-A knocking on the door, I asked Manager Clint Hurdle this morning on the importance of this start and to prove he belongs in the rotation.

“It’s more along the lines that Brad needs to pitch well,” Hurdle said. “That’s the only focus point here. It’s not about anything other then Brad pitching the way that he’s capable of pitching. That will take us where we need to go and obviously with everything that’s going on organizationally. We haven’t; seen the guy that we saw for most part of the season the last two starts. He’s been encouraged to go out there and give us everything he’s got for as long as he’s got. There’s no pace. There’s no don’t try and pace yourself. Don’t look to go five innings. Give us everything you’ve got. We’ve got a day off tomorrow. We’ve got a full bullpen. Let’s get after it.”

The former first round pick threw 87 pitches in his last outing in Baltimore, 66 in the start prior. Hurdle said he needs to not worry about a certain pitch count or inning limit, to just go out there and be aggressive for as long as he can.

“Hard as you can for as long as you can,” Hurdle said. “There is a mentality within a team that nobody wants to be the weakest link so at the same time he’s thinking, ‘I don’t want to go out there and pitch three innings and just gas it out and then you’ve got to go to the bullpen for six.’ And I understand that and I appreciate that. That’s why we brought Brad, Ray [Searage] and I did, to talk to him. To be transparent with him. We understand that we’re best served by you going out there and just getting after it. Let’s reignite that fastball that we saw for the first two months of the season. The movement of the fastball. The depth of the tilt of the slider, the breaking ball. I think by him trying to calm things down and give us five innings, the intangible, just the dynamic of it all kind of worn down some.”

Lincoln has bounced back in forth from the bullpen and spot starting this season. In relief, Lincoln has been dominant posting just an 0.45 ERA over 20.0 innings while whiffing 23. The fact that this will be his third start in a row could help the fact that Lincoln is back into a routine and has been able to prepare himself.

“We’ll find out,” Hurdle said. “Time will tell today. You’ll see if he goes out and pitches a good game, part of it could attribute to the fact that it’s the third time he did it. I know that he’s in a routine. He’s been in a routine so we’ve at least eliminated that part of the issue.”

—Pedro Alvarez went deep yesterday twice for his third multi-homer game of his career and the first since 2010. His 10 long balls this season are ranked third most for at third baseman in the NL. He trails only David Freese (13) and Hanley Ramirez (11).

— The Pirates have scored 66 runs so far this month, tied for fourth-most among all NL teams. The Pirates are also tied for fourth among NL teams with 17 home runs in June.

– Jared Hughes has stranded each of his two inherited runners while also working 1.1 scoreless innings yesterday to lower his ERA to a league leading 1.93 among rookies. He also leads NL rookies in appearances (25) and is second with a .217 batting average against.

— Pirates lineup: Alex Presley 7, Neil Walker 4, Andrew McCutchen 8, Garrett Jones 9, Casey McGehee 3, Pedro Alvarez 5, Matt Hague 0, Clint Barmes 6, ,Michael McKenry 2 (Brad Lincoln 1)

— Indians lineup: Shin-Soo Choo 9, Asdrubal Cacrera 6, Jason Kipnis 4, Jose Lopez 0, Michael Brantley 8, Jack Hannahan 5, Johnny Damon 5, Casey Kotchman 3, Lou Marson 2 (Jeanmar Gomez 2)

“This is what we do,” Hurdle said. “We probably aren’t as reactive to some of the things that go on that maybe people outside of what we do. You’ve got to play good baseball to win games. As we left last night, we realized we did not play better than the Baltimore Orioles better than any of the three nights we played…It’s really an easy transition. I know there’s nobody out there caring any baggage from Baltimore here today. That’s not how we do things. That’s not the way that I’ve tried to present the game to them. We live for today. We take care of today. Yesterday is done. Tomorrow we don’t know what’s going to happen. We’re ready.”

– James McDonald will take the bump tonight for the Bucs. He’s coming off the lone rough outing of his season where he allowed three runs over 4.0 innings. McDonald struggled with his fastball command and wasn’t sharp from the get-go. The right-hander will look to pitch deep into the ballgame tonight.

“I’d love to see it. I would. We all would. I know J-Mac would,” Hurdle said. “This is why we play the game though. Where in Cleveland. It’s a new day, new series. This club got our attention last year. We came in here and went home without a win. They’ve been fighting and scratching and clawing just like us. We’re looking forward to getting back out on the field, and getting this thing back in the right direction.”

McDonald will look to be the stopper and put the end of the three-game skid. He’s ranked eighth among NL pitchers in ERA (2.39) and fourth in batting average against (.200). His May ERA of 1.54 was ranked second in the Majors.

“I think there’s a lot to be said for the mental toughness side of it,” Hurdle said. “If you look at the record this year after following games we’ve lost, its already taken a pretty good step forward…This club can be a very offensive club. They can be stacked with left-handed hitters. He’s got to execute his pitches. He’s got to command the fastball to both sides of the plate, especially glove side. It’s going to be a nice challenge for him tonight.”

– The Pirates enter tonight tied with Cleveland for the second-best save percentage (84.6) in the Majors. Both teams have converted 22 of 26 save opps.

– Pirates lineup: Alex Presley 7, Neil Walker 4, Andrew McCutchen 8, Garrett Jones 0, Casey McGehee 3, Pedro Alvarez 5, Jose Tabata 9, Rod Barajas 2, Josh Harrison 6 (James McDonald 1)

– The Indians are throwing out an all left-handed (or switch hitting) lineup: Shin-Soo Choo 9, Asdrubal Cabrera 6, Jason Kipnis 4, Carlos Santana 2, Michael Brantley 8, Johnny Damon 7, Casey Kotchman 3, Lonnie Chisenhall 0, Jack Hannahan 5

“I’m not so sure it’s taking him out of his game,” Hurdle said. “I’m trying to get him quality reps. I’m also trying to keep some other guys that have given us a shot in the arm quality reps.”

Today wraps up just a three game homestand at PNC Park. The Bucs are looking to take their second series sweep of the season. Hurdle said there is nothing difficult about the quick turn around before heading to Baltimore, then Cleveland.

“When you’ve done this, the biggest challenge is just getting your laundry moved around,” Hurdle said. “I mean, seriously. You unpack a bag and pack a bag. It’s basically unload your gear and go. Try and make sure you love on the people you need to love on while your home, play some good baseball, then get back after it on the road.”

In eight career starts at PNC Park, right-hander A.J. Burnett has posted a 1.41 ERA over 54.1 innings. Burnett will make his 10th start of the season this afternoon. He has won four straight decisions. If you subtract Burnett’s 12 run outing in St. Louis, the righty has just a 1.89 ERA on the season.

The Pirates have posted the best record in the Major Leagues since May 25 (11-3). This marks Pittsburgh’s best 14-game record since going 11-3 in June/July of 2004.

In their last six games, the Pirates have gone 19-for-45 (.422 avg) with runners in scoring position. They are hitting .347 in their last 12 games with RISP, knocking in 44 runs in those games.

Pirates lineup: Presley 7, Walker 4, McCutchen 8, McGehee 5, Hague 3, Barajas 2, Harrison 9, Barmes 6, Burnett 1

Royals lineup: Gordon 7, Giavotella 4, Hosmer 3, Moustakas 5, Pena 2, Maier 9, Escobar 6, Dyson 8, Chen 1

So far, Hurdle is liking what he’s seen from it. The Pirates have won each of their last two games.

“I’m trying to get Pedro out of the fourth hole to just take some pressure [off],” Hurdle said. “The same way with Tabata. He’s a guy that profiles to be a top of the order guy. Unfortunately the numbers at this point in time haven’t played out that way. Let’s get him out of that position, out of the spotlight, give him a chance to not have that responsibility and just go up there and hit what he sees…[Rod] Barajas and [Clint] Barmes, now that they’re sparking we can score a run down at the bottom as well with Tabby’s speed in front of those guys.”

– Pirates lineup: Alex Presley 7, Neil Walker 4, Andrew McCutchen 8, Garrett Jones 3, Pedro Alvarez 5, Jose Tabata 9, Rod Barajas 2, Clint Barmes 6, James McDonald 1

– Royals lineup: Alex Gordon 7, Yuniesky Betancourt 4, Billy Butler 3, Mike Moustakas 5, Jeff Francoeur 8, Eric Hosmer 9, Brayan Pena 2, Alicedes Escobar 6, Vin Mazzaro 1

– The Pirates have won four of their last five and 10 of their last 13 games. They currently are just two games out of first place in the National League Central. The Pirates have posted the best record in the ML since May 25 (10-3).

– The Pirates are 5-0 at home on Saturday nights. Alex Presley (.333) and Neil Walker (.303) have been swinging hot bats on Saturdays at PNC Park.

– Beginning with his start on April 18, James McDonald’s 1.81 ERA is the lowest among all starters in the Major Leagues (minimum of eight starts). He’s posted a 1.54 ERA at PNC  in five starts last month and has not surrendered more than three runs in any of his first 11 assignments. McDonald’s 2.14 ERA is second-best in the NL.

Skipper Clint Hurdle, too, liked what he saw from the Bucs last night and being able to take 2-of-3 from the Reds.

“That gassed me up,” Hurdle said. “That’s why you coach. To watch some guys do some things in some specific areas. I loved the way the team picked up Joel [Hanrahan]. I can’t even imagine the emotion of the role that goes with being a closer. I know the emotions that I have as a Manager, and they’re different. First pitch –boom. The air is taken out of you. The team to battle back. Pick him up for a change. Then the two guys to answer [Aroldis] Chapman’s call. [Jared] Hughes to answer the challenge that he was given in the sixth. Tabata’s throw in the first. The base running later. There was so many different things to piggy back one another. It was a total team effort.On the road. Against a good ball club who play specifically well at home. Yeah, proud of our guys last night.”

“[Tony] Watson going hands on again with [Joey] Votto. That doesn’t happen very often. [Michael] McKenry taking the bunt sign off, that might have been as good as decision that I made all night. I asked a couple players, ‘How easy is it to bunt 100?’ They said it’s not every easy. I said, ‘lets give it one shot.’ It didn’t look right, so I said, ‘we’re bailing on this.”

How that can effect the Pirates down the road will tell. Pittsburgh are set to take on the Royals for three games, just two back from first in the National League Central.

“I’ve seen it spark something,” Hurdle said. “I’ve seen the next night, ‘How come we can’t do that again?’ A lot will have to do with Bedard’s outing and the outing on the other side. I just know we felt good walking out of that place.”

– Six arms in the bullpen were used in last night’s win. The lone arms that weren’t were Brad Lincoln, who was unavailable, and Doug Slaten, who pitched 3.0 innings the night prior. Hurdle said before the game that the bullpen should be good to go tonight.

“Hughes is the only guy that’s pitched back-to-back days, but he’s gone three,” Hurdle said. “I’d use him if I felt it made sense. I think [Chris] Resop’s going to be okay. I think there’s probably a little bit of adrenaline flow on his side. Slaten said he was good to go last night after his 27 pitch outing the night before. I think we’ll be fine.”

– Jeff Karstens was removed from what should have been his final rehab start last night for Triple-A Indy. He was diagnosed with tightness in his right groin. There is no current update yet. He was getting a MRI done this afternoon.

– Hurdle was asked this afternoon during his pregame session what kind of team he believes the team is. Sure, they’ve won three of their last four, nine of last 12 and are in second place. But does the skipper want the club to be?

“I know what we are,” Hurdle said. “I think these players are trying to create an offensive identity, whether it’s a pitching identity. What I’d like us to be? Just a blue collar baseball team that represents this city and its fan base. No nonsense. No excuses. You go play hard. You play smart. You get things done. That’s what I’d like us to be. I think we’re heading in that direction.”

“Who we are? One-run games, that’s kind of what we do. I kind of think these guys enjoy that their Manager doesn’t play it by the book. That he will go with his gut and he will throw things out there.”

–The Pirates have gone 9-3 since May 25. The only two teams in the Majors to win as many games in that time period are the White Sox (9-3) and Giants (9-4).

– The Pirates enter tonight’s action with the second-best bullpen ERA (2.51) in the NL. The Bucs have also recorded the fewest amount of blown saves (four) in the League, converting 19 of their 23 save opps.

– Pirates lineup: Presley LF, Walker 2B, McCutchen CF, Jones 1B, Alvarez 3B, Tabata RF, Barajas C, Barmes SS, Bedard LHP

– Royals lineup: Gordon LF, Betancourt 2B, Butler 1B, Moustakas 3B, Francoeur CF, Hosmer RF, Escobar SS, Quintero C, Hochevar RHP