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.
