Archive
Subscribe Place Ad Buy Trib Photos Readers' Choice Contests
Jobs Homes Autos Classifieds
Trib Total Media Contact Us
ShareThis Page
Pirates notebook: Francisco Cervelli’s finger injury keeps him out of lineup | TribLIVE.com
Pirates/MLB

Pirates notebook: Francisco Cervelli’s finger injury keeps him out of lineup

Tribune-Review
Tribune-Review | Friday, May 18, 2018 6:21 p.m
GTRBucs06051618
Christopher Horner | Tribune-Review
Pirates catcher Francisco Cervelli winces after being hit by a pitch during the third inning against the White Sox Tuesday, May 15, 2018, at PNC Park.
GTRBucs06051618
Christopher Horner | Tribune-Review
Pirates catcher Francisco Cervelli winces after being hit by a pitch during the third inning against the White Sox Tuesday, May 15, 2018, at PNC Park.

Pirates catcher Francisco Cervelli was not in the starting lineup Friday night for the second of a four-game series against the San Diego Padres at PNC Park.

Cervelli also missed Wednesday’s game against the Chicago White Sox when he was hit in the forearm by a pitch Tuesday. But Friday’s absence was due to another injury.

“The finger he dived back into the base with (Thursday night) swelled up on him a little bit,” manager Clint Hurdle said.

Cervelli was hitting .296 through Thursday, 21 points above his lifetime batting average.

Elias Diaz has proven to be a capable replacement, hitting .383 with two home runs and eight RBIs in 19 games before he was inserted into the sixth spot Friday night.

Kingham’s turn

Hurdle said Nick Kingham, who won his first two major league starts earlier this season, will start Saturday night against Padres left-hander Clayton Richard. Kingham has pitched in Indianapolis and Altoona since his two starts with the Pirates.

Dickerson third

Austin Meadows is replacing Starling Marte in center field, but Corey Dickerson filled his spot in the batting order.

Dickerson made his debut at the No. 3 hole this season. The left fielder has batted fifth in 36 starts and also batted fourth and sixth once each.

“It’s to help the team, with how the lineup is right now and how the guys are right now,” Dickerson said. “I just look to help the team in any way.

“I only hit third one time. That first time through the lineup is what I consider hitting third, so I really don’t pay it any attention.

“I won’t have a different approach. I’ll keep my approach the same, and I think everybody else will try to do the same.”

Dickerson, who was leading the Pirates’ regulars with a .316 batting average, has only 93 career at-bats in the No. 3 spot, with five home runs, 13 RBI and a .247 average.

Jerry DiPaola is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at jdipaola@tribweb.com or via Twitter @JDiPaola_Trib.

Categories: Pirates
TribLIVE commenting policy

You are solely responsible for your comments and by using TribLive.com you agree to our Terms of Service.

We moderate comments. Our goal is to provide substantive commentary for a general readership. By screening submissions, we provide a space where readers can share intelligent and informed commentary that enhances the quality of our news and information.

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderating decisions are subjective. We will make them as carefully and consistently as we can. Because of the volume of reader comments, we cannot review individual moderation decisions with readers.

We value thoughtful comments representing a range of views that make their point quickly and politely. We make an effort to protect discussions from repeated comments either by the same reader or different readers

We follow the same standards for taste as the daily newspaper. A few things we won't tolerate: personal attacks, obscenity, vulgarity, profanity (including expletives and letters followed by dashes), commercial promotion, impersonations, incoherence, proselytizing and SHOUTING. Don't include URLs to Web sites.

We do not edit comments. They are either approved or deleted. We reserve the right to edit a comment that is quoted or excerpted in an article. In this case, we may fix spelling and punctuation.

We welcome strong opinions and criticism of our work, but we don't want comments to become bogged down with discussions of our policies and we will moderate accordingly.

We appreciate it when readers and people quoted in articles or blog posts point out errors of fact or emphasis and will investigate all assertions. But these suggestions should be sent via e-mail. To avoid distracting other readers, we won't publish comments that suggest a correction. Instead, corrections will be made in a blog post or in an article.