Pirates notebook: Cherington says team will use six-man starting rotation into All-Star break

Jun. 27—Pittsburgh Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said Sunday on his radio show on 93.7 FM that the team plans to stick with a six-man rotation through the All-Star break.

He said that before Max Kranick's major league debut when he retired the first 12 batters he faced in the finale of the four-game series against the Cardinals in St. Louis.

"We are still working through what that six looks like," Cherington said. "We want to see Max (Sunday), excited to see him and, then, we'll figure that out between now and the All-Star break.

"This is a guy we believe can help us in the major leagues."

The Pirates have set their rotation for the three-game series that starts Monday in Colorado against the Rockies — Tyler Anderson, Chase De Jong and Chad Kuhl. Will Crowe and J.T. Brubaker also are part of the rotation.

Friendly rivalry

On most occasions, manager Derek Shelton prefers a calm clubhouse where his players get along with each other.

Just not now, with Mississippi State facing Vanderbilt in the College World Series finals that begin Monday in Omaha, Neb.

Second baseman Adam Frazier and relief pitcher Chris Stratton attended Mississippi State. Center fielder Bryan Reynolds went to Vanderbilt.

Then, there's the special case of reliever David Bednar, a Mars graduate whose brother, Will, was the starting pitcher Saturday for the Bulldogs when they defeated Texas, 4-3, to advance to the finals.

"Every time he walks by my office he says, 'Go, Dogs,' " Shelton said of David Bednar, who's been wearing a Mississippi State pullover for the past week. "Will and David have a special bond, which is really cool.

"Frazier and Stratton went there. Bednar is way more excited about this. Obviously, Reynolds is not. He's a man of a few words."

Shelton is not an innocent observer.

"I'm trying to incite it as much as possible," he said. "I am trying to get into as much trash talking with these guys going into it as possible to get them to go back and forth. You don't have to get Bednar excited at all. He's full-on, ready to go all the time."

Solid defense

The Pirates went into Sunday's series finale with the St. Louis Cardinals with one of the soundest fielding teams in the majors.

They had committed only three errors in the previous 12 games (103 innings) — none in the past six (58). Since May 9, the Pirates were first in the majors with a .990 fielding percentage and 15 errors.

"I think our work's been really good, really proactive at looking on how we're working on our defensive stuff every day," Shelton said, crediting coaches Tarrik Brock and Joey Cora.

"Our guys have really bought into it. We continue to do sound things fundamentally. It's one of the reasons we're in games because of the fact we do a lot of things correct and play good fundamental baseball."

The Pirates have won five of their past eight games, and the three losses have been decided by a total of four runs.

Not to be overlooked:

Catchers Jacob Stallings and Michael Perez have teamed to make the Pirates the only team without a passed ball this season.

Frazier second at second base

Adam Frazier is one of three finalists at second base after the first phase of fan voting for the All-Star Game. Frazier is second to the Atlanta Braves' Ozzie Albies and ahead of Gavin Lux of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The second phase of voting begins Monday and ends Thursday. All-Star starters, based on the voting, will be announced Thursday night on ESPN. The remainder of the teams will be revealed next Sunday on ESPN.

Jerry DiPaola is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Jerry by email at jdipaola@triblive.com or via Twitter .