Pirates set wild-card roster for tonight's game against Cubs
Behold, the Pirates’ wild-card roster:
Pitchers
Gerrit Cole (starter)
Francisco Liriano (L)
Antonio Bastardo (L)
Joe Blanton
Arquimedes Caminero
Jared Hughes
Mark Melancon
Joakim Soria
Tony Watson (L)
Catchers
Francisco Cervelli
Elias Diaz
Chris Stewart
Infielders
Pedro Alvarez (L)
Pedro Florimon (S)
Josh Harrison
Jordy Mercer
Michael Morse
Aramis Ramirez
Sean Rodriguez
Neil Walker (S)
Outfielders
Keon Broxton
Starling Marte
Andrew McCutchen
Gregory Polanco (L)
Travis Snider (L)
There are no real surprises here other than perhaps the omission of lefty Bobby LaFromboise, who might have been useful against Kyle Schwarber, Anthony Rizzo or Miguel Montero. Lefties were 3 for 19 with eight strikeouts against him this year, but Jason Heyward also just hit a grand slam against him when he was brought in for a left-on-left matchup.
Others left off: Jeff Locke, Rob Scahill, Vance Worley, Travis Ishikawa, Jaff Decker.