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Pirates send McDonald to hill in finale vs. Braves

May 25, 2011 - 2:57 PM (Sports Network) - The Pittsburgh Pirates hope that James McDonald can continue his recent surge and help the club avoid a third straight loss. However, if the offense can't break out of its current slump, it won't matter how well the right-hander pitches.

Held scoreless in back-to-back games, the Pirates hope to break out this afternoon in the finale of a two-game series with the Atlanta Braves at PNC Park.

After starting the season 0-2 with a 10.12 earned run average through his first four starts, McDonald is 3-1 with a 2.51 ERA in his last five outings and has allowed two runs or less in four of those games.

The 26-year-old survived a tough beginning to his last start to beat the Reds on Thursday. He battled through a 27-pitch first inning without allowing a run and served up a leadoff homer to Jay Bruce to begin the second inning, but didn't allow another run the rest of the way over a season high-tying 6 2/3 innings.

"The first inning was kind of slow. I think the Bruce home run kind of woke me up a little bit," McDonald said after improving to 3-3 with a 5.51 ERA in nine starts this season.

McDonald, who is pitching to a 2.41 ERA in three home starts this season, has faced the Braves three times in his career, including one start, and has held them without a run over 11 total innings while going 1-0 in that span. He may need to keep that shutout streak alive seeing as Pittsburgh has mustered just eight hits in back-to-back 2-0 losses.

After losing the finale of a three-game series with Detroit on Sunday to halt a four-game winning streak, the Pirates were held to just six hits in last night's defeat and have gone 19 straight innings without scoring a run. The lack of offense wasted a solid start by Charlie Morton, who gave up both Atlanta runs over seven-plus innings of work.

"I think I pitched okay, but there were some situations I could have pitched better in," Morton admitted.

Jair Jurrjens, meanwhile, continued his stellar start to the season with 7 2/3 scoreless innings for the Braves, who had lost four of five coming in. Jurrjens improved to 6-1 after giving up just six hits and lowering his season ERA to 1.56.

"I try to get my team back in the dugout as fast as I can," Jurrjens said. "I just throw strikes and pitch for contact."

Alex Gonzalez went 3-for-4 with a run scored for Atlanta, while Brooks Conrad and Martin Prado drove in the runs.

Conrad got the start at second base with manager Fredi Gonzalez opting to give Dan Uggla a rest. Uggla, who did make an appearance later in the game without an at-bat, is batting just .185 this season and has two hits in his past 28 plate appearances.

With Tim Hudson to miss today's start due to a stiff back, the Braves recalled Mike Minor from Triple-A Gwinnett to take his place on the hill.

The 23-year-old left-hander is 2-2 with a 2.56 ERA in eight starts this year with Gwinnett after making one start with the Braves back on April 6 in place of an injured Jurrjens. It was a forgettable outing for Minor as he was tagged for five runs on seven hits and four walks in 4 1/3 innings of a loss.

Minor, the seventh overall pick of the 2009 draft, will face the Pirates for the first time in what will be his 10th career major league start.

The Braves took six of nine from the Pirates a season ago, with the clubs splitting six games at PNC Park.