the hot spot

On a night when the Yankees are at Fenway, the White Sox and Cubs are clashing at Wrigley and the Nats and O’s are dueling at Camden Yards, the best place to be might be PNC Park in Pittsburgh. That’s where former Ole Miss star Lance Lynn and his St. Louis teammates will meet the Pirates in a matchup of the two best teams in the National League. The pitching matchup is a dandy. Lynn, 6-4 with a 2.53 ERA, will be opposed by Pirates ace Gerrit Cole, 12-3, 2.28. The Cardinals won the opener of the four-game series 4-1 on Thursday night, snapping the Pirates’ four-game win streak and extending their lead in the National League Central to 5½ games. Lynn faced the Bucs in St. Louis on May 1, striking out 10 in seven innings in a game won by the Cards 2-1 in 10. Lynn has fared well against Andrew McCutchen (.132) and Pedro Alvarez (.182), not so well against Starling Marte (.381) and Neil Walker (.294, two homers, eight RBIs). Envy Jackson’s Chris Maloney, who, as the Cardinals’ first-base coach, will have a great view of what ought to be a great game. P.S. UM product Aaron Barrett, on the disabled list for Washington, has made three rehab appearances in Class A ball, working three innings with no earned runs allowed. Barrett has a 5.06 ERA in 30 games for the Nationals. … Former Picayune High star T.J. House remains on the DL in the minors for Cleveland. The left-hander last pitched on June 5. He was sent down by the Indians after going 0-4, 13.15 in four starts; he is 0-2, 3.86 in four games for Triple-A Columbus. … Meridian Community College product Cliff Lee reportedly will start throwing later this month, though his return to Philadelphia still appears iffy. The veteran lefty hasn’t pitched at all this season and made just 13 starts last year because of elbow problems.