"Manager John Russell tweaked the middle of the lineup, putting Lastings Milledge into the No. 3 position and dropping Garrett Jones and Ryan Doumit each down one spot.

"The middle is kind of interchangeable," Russell said.

Milledge, who has the ability to hit to all fields, has done well hitting behind runners and with situational hitting. Russell hopes to create more scoring opportunities by putting Milledge after table-setters Aki Iwamura and Andrew McCutchen.

The move could pay off for Doumit, who is a bit of a square peg in the round hole of the cleanup spot. He profiles better as a No. 5 hitter, but the power-starved Pirates often have no choice but to put him in the No. 4 spot.

"In the real world, yeah, I think he's more comfortable (at No. 5) and it's a better fit for him," Russell said. "I'm not saying he can't hit 4, because he's very capable. You try to tell guys, you're only the 4 hitter one time through the lineup. Other than that, you're in a good position to drive in runs, whether you're 3, 4 or 5, because of the guys in front of you.

"Him being in the 5 hole, there's not going to be a whole lot of difference, but maybe it will relax him a little bit. Sometimes when guys are in the 4 hole, they think, 'I've got to be the guy.' I know Jason Bay used to talk about that. In a typical lineup, I think Ryan would fit more in a 5 or 6 spot because he can switch-hit and he's not the big, huge power hitter. He's more of a gap-to-gap guy.""