Sep 28, 2014 3 min read

CINCINNATI – Pirates manager Clint Hurdle is staying with his starting pitching alignment for the playoffs, which meant using right-hander Gerrit Cole Sunday against the Cincinnati Reds because the game had bearing on the NL Central title.

Cole was Pittsburgh’s best pitcher lately, winning his last four starts. Hurdle had to decide whether to use Cole Sunday as planned or to save him for the first playoff game.

Pittsburgh opened the day a game behind St. Louis for the division title, and its 4-1 loss to Cincinnati clinched the NL Centrail title for the Cardinals.

Pittsburgh is guaranteed of a home wild-card game, which it hosts Wednesday at 8 p.m. in a game televised by ESPN. Hurdle indicated Edinson Volquez would start a wild-card game.

Hurdle considered saving Cole for the playoffs but decided the chance to win a division title was the overriding concern.

“There’s no way we’re going to walk away from an opportunity to win our division,” Hurdle said Sunday morning. “After 161 games of grit and fight and battle, we’re trying to make history here.”

Hurdle talked with Pirates officials, his coaching staff and some of the players about the pitching plans Saturday.

“First of all, I gave them the options first,” Hurdle said of his players. “I didn’t try to lead the witness. I wanted to read the crowd.

“To a man unequivocally, there’s no pause, there’s no doubt, there’s no, ‘Well, let me figure this out, let me see what’s best, how are we best suited.’ Let’s win the game. We’ve got a chance to win the division.”

The Pirates beat the Reds in the wild card game at PNC Park last season, their first playoff appearance in 21 years. They lost to the Cardinals in the next round.

Giants announce Bumgarner will start: Giants manager Bruce Bochy announced the worst-kept secret in San Francisco’s clubhouse: left-hander Madison Bumgarner will start Wednesday’s wild-card game at Pittsburgh.

Bochy said before Sunday’s regular-season finale against San Diego he felt comfortable with Bumgarner or Jake Peavy on the mound. But given Bumgarner’s success the last few years, he said “I don’t think there was any question who you pitch that game.”

Bumgarner was 18-10 with a 2.98 ERA this season. He has a 3-2 record with a 3.79 ERA in six postseason starts, all during San Francisco’s runs to the 2010 and 2012 World Series titles.

The winner of the wild-card game will face the Washington Nationals in a best-of-five division series.