Braves' opponent: Pittsburgh Pirates
Keep an eye on: The Pirates' starting pitching. The Pirates enter the series with a 3.17 starters' ERA, which is third-best in the majors behind St. Louis and Oakland. Pittsburgh's starting staff leads the majors with 25 wins, including all seven wins during a recent win streak and all three wins in a sweep over San Francisco earlier this week. The Braves miss A.J. Burnett, who is 6-1 with a 2.20 ERA, and Francisco Liriano (3-4, 3.24 ERA), who leads the Pirates with 81 strikeouts, but the Braves have to contend with one of the top young pitchers in the game in Gerrit Cole.
Who's hot: Andrew McCutchen has hit .396 (38-for-96) with a .474 on-base percentage over his past 27 games, raising his season average from .185 to .293. He's on a five-game hitting streak which included a four-hit game Tuesday in San Francisco where he doubled and tripled.
Who's not: Starling Marte is just 2-for-his-last-24 (.083) and was out of the starting lineup Wednesday in San Francisco.
Braves connection: The Braves will face a couple of familiar faces in this series in Charlie Morton and Jeff Locke, both of whom came up through the Braves system, and Morton reached the majors with Atlanta. Morton is 0-2 with a 2.57 ERA in three starts against his former team, the last one coming in 2011 when he pitched seven innings, giving up only two runs, but took the loss. Locke makes his fifth start against the Braves after going 1-1 with a 6.20 ERA through his first four. Only once did he have a quality start. .
In the news: The Pirates spent $16 million on infielder Jung Ho Kang to bring him over from the Korean Baseball Organization this past January. Unlike fellow Korean Shin-Soo Choo, Kang made the transition directly to the major leagues. He's been more consistent than some might have thought, hitting .287 with three home runs and 19 RBIs. Manager Clint Hurdle is sharing Kang's time at shortstop with Jordy Mercer so he can pace himself for a longer schedule (162 games rather than 128).
