MLB Game Preview - Atlanta at Pittsburgh

Fri Apr 7, 2017 1:05 PM EDT

PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Pirates are still looking for their first win of the season; but, if nothing else, they will be the better-rested team when they play their home opener against the Atlanta Braves on Friday at PNC Park.

The Pirates (0-2) played Monday afternoon and Wednesday night in Boston, then had their day game against the Red Sox washed out Thursday.

The Braves (1-2), meanwhile, fell 6-2 to the Mets on Thursday night in New York, making for a short turnaround that included travel going into Friday's day game.

Neither team's offense has gotten untracked. Atlanta has scored three runs in three games; the Pirates have scored three in 21 innings.

Pittsburgh decided not to alter its rotation, at least for Friday, so Ivan Nova will make his first start of the season. The pitching lineup with the club's all-righty roster of starters for the rest of the six-game homestand has been juggled, however.

Chad Kuhl, who was slated to start Thursday, now moves to Saturday's start. Tyler Glasnow, originally scheduled to go Saturday, gets pushed back to Monday against Cincinnati, with Opening Day starter Gerrit Cole getting his second start Sunday. Jameson Taillon and Nova again round out the homestand.

And that's if Friday's game doesn't also get postponed. The forecast calls for a 60 percent chance of rain and snow showers, though mostly in the morning.

Nova, in something of a surprise move, signed a three-year, $26 million deal to remain with Pittsburgh. The half-season he spent with the Pirates after he came over in a trade from the New York Yankees probably gave him leverage to find a better deal elsewhere, but he chose to return to the club where he reasserted himself as a starter.

"We don't have those type of big-name guys," Nova told MLB.com at the end of spring training. "In the papers, everybody can choose who is going to win. At the end of the day, we have to go out there and perform. We've got a lot of guys that are capable of doing that, young guys with a lot of talent. It's going to be a fun season."

After the trade, he made 11 starts for the Pirates, going 5-2 with a 3.06 ERA while averaging six innings a start, striking out 52 and walking only three.

"You think, 'Wow, how much of this did he do before this?'" manager Clint Hurdle said. "We went and looked at a lot of games that he pitched before. We got the best bulk of work that he's ever done.

"He's pitched extremely well. He's fit in extremely well. He's mentored extremely well. He's always looking to learn."

Nova on Friday will face right-hander Mike Foltynewicz, making his season debut after going 9-5 with a 4.31 ERA last season. That included going 0-2 with a 10.80 ERA against the Pirates, his only two career appearances against them.

Foltynewicz said he was much more comfortable this spring than he was a year ago, when he was coming off a bout with a blood clot.

"That translates out to the field for me, when you're comfortable," Foltynewicz told the Atlanta Journal Constitution as training camp was breaking. He had a 2.66 ERA in 23 2/3 innings in Grapefruit League play.

"Hopefully, I can keep it going. It's been really fun this spring."