Western Pennsylvania's trusted news source
Colin Moran, Pablo Reyes inserted into Pirates starting lineup for home opener | TribLIVE.com
Pirates/MLB

Colin Moran, Pablo Reyes inserted into Pirates starting lineup for home opener

Jerry DiPaola
961760_web1_PTR-OpeningDay05-040219
Nate Smallwood | Tribune-Review
Pirates’ fans stand for the singing of the National Anthem prior to the start of the Pirates’ home opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday, April 1, 2019.
961760_web1_AP_19081722595962
AP
Pittsburgh Pirates’ Pablo Reyes follows through on a double in the seventh inning of a spring training baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays, Friday, March 22, 2019, in Port Charlotte, Fla.
961760_web1_GTR-Bucs04-040219
Christopher Horner | Tribune-Review
Pirates pitcher Chris Archer delivers against the Cardinals Monday, April 1, 28, 2019, at PNC Park.
961760_web1_PTR-OpeningDay03-040219
Nate Smallwood | Tribune-Review
Pirates’ fans begin to take their seats prior the the Pirates’ home opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday, April 1, 2019.
961760_web1_PTR-OpeningDay04-040219
Nate Smallwood | Tribune-Review
Pirates’ fans enter PNC Park prior the the Pirates’ home opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday, April 1, 2019.

Clint Hurdle juggled his lineup for the home opener and third game of the season Monday when the Pittsburgh Pirates meet the St. Louis Cardinals at PNC Park.

After right fielder Melky Cabrera had two hits against the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday, he will sit Monday in favor of rookie Pablo Reyes. Meanwhile, third baseman Jung Ho Kang, who led the team with three hits in two games against the Reds, is being replaced by last year’s hero in the home opener, Colin Moran.

Hurdle said before the first game Thursday in Cincinnati that he likes to use his players sooner rather than later at the outset of the season. Reyes was a defensive replacement for Cabrera for the first two games, but Monday is his first start of the season.

More than that mindset, he turned to analytics to help him assemble his lineup.

Moran, who hit a grand slam in the 2018 home opener, homered later in the season against the Cardinals’ Adam Wainwright, who is Monday’s starter. Kang is 1 for 9 and Cabrera 1 for 11 against Wainwright.

“I thought we’d get Reyes out there, a guy that maybe a veteran pitcher doesn’t know as well as somebody (Cabrera, a 15-year veteran) he might know better,” Hurdle said.

Jerry DiPaola is a TribLive reporter covering Pitt athletics since 2011. A Pittsburgh native, he joined the Trib in 1993, first as a copy editor and page designer in the sports department and later as the Pittsburgh Steelers reporter from 1994-2004. He can be reached at jdipaola@triblive.com.

Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.

Get Ad-Free >

Categories: Pirates/MLB | Sports
Sports and Partner News