- Zack Greinke, coming off his worst start of the year, will try to join Roy Halladay at nine wins when he takes on the Blue Jays tonight. Greinke allowed four runs -- three earned -- over seven innings in a loss to the White Sox last time out. He faced the Jays back on April 29 and won that one, despite giving up his first two earned runs of the season. The Jays will go to Ricky Romero, who has given up 10 runs in 9 1/3 innings since rejoining the Toronto rotation last month. One more bad outing could result in a demotion back to Triple-A, as the Jays aren’t known for their patience.
- Tonight’s game in Cincinnati matches up the game’s top two power-hitting pitchers. Carlos Zambrano has hit 13 homers in 260 at-bats since the beginning of 2006, while Micah Owings has six homers in 146 career at-bats. Owings, at .315/.344/.555, possesses the far better career line of the two.
- Weather permitting, lefties David Price and CC Sabathia will engage in the first on what will hopefully be a long series of duels over the next several years. Price did pitch once against the Yankees last year, throwing 5 2/3 innings of two-run ball in relief after starter Edwin Jackson was lit up. Sabathia has won four in a row and is 5-3 with a 3.46 ERA this season. He’s 7-1 with a 2.44 ERA lifetime against Tampa Bay.
- Bobby Abreu is two hits away from reaching 2,000, but he could have a difficult time getting those against Detroit’s Justin Verlander tonight. Verlander has had three starts this season in which he’s given up a total of two hits.
- Todd Helton’s next homer will move him past George Brett into a tie for 100th place on the all-time list. He’s at 317 right now.
Game of the Night
Milwaukee vs. Atlanta - Two of the NL’s top young starters, Yovani Gallardo and Jair Jurrjens, will face off in Atlanta. Gallardo and Jurrjens were both within a month of each other in 1986, and both are sporting identical 5-2 records at the moment. Both have allowed three runs or fewer in all but two of their starts. Tonight’s game will also make Nate McLouth’s debut as a Brave. He was set to start in center field and bat third before Thursday’s game was postponed due to rain.