Being just a game-and-a-half back from the lead in the National League wild card standings, the Pittsburgh Pirates hope to avoid a sweep today at the hands of the Milwaukee Brewers en route to maintaining good positioning for the playoffs.

Last night, the Brewers won the series against PIttsburgh with a Corey Hart walk-off home run over the left field wall. Closer Joel Hanrahan earned the loss for the Bucs.

James McDonald (12-6, 3.57 ERA) will take the mound for Pittsburgh, against Milwaukee's Yovani Gallardo (14-8, 3.52 ERA), who has impressively won six of his last starts. McDonald is riding a bit of a wave of success himself, coming off of a Tuesday victory against St. Louis which saw the righty allow just two hits over seven innings, striking out six.

The game begins at 2:10 p.m. ET at Miller Park, and will be televised on ROOT Sports in PIttsburgh and FSWI in Milwaukee.

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