Thursday: Pirates at Tampa Bay - Kuhl v Blake Snell, Lineup, Notes, DR Hammers Bucs 10-6

Today: The Pirates travel to meet the Tampa Bay Rays. The first pitch is scheduled for 1:05 at Charlotte Sports Park in Port Charlotte. The contest will be webcast (audio) at pirates.com.

Lineup (subs): Adam Frazier SS (Kevin Newman), Alen Hanson 3B, Phil Gosselin 2B (Gift Ngoepe), Jose Osuna 1B (Joey Terdoslavich), Elias Diaz C (Christian Kelley), Danny Oritz LF, Chris Bostic CF, Barrett Barnes LF & Chad Kuhl P.

Pitchers: Chad Kuhl, Felipe Rivero, AJ Schugel & Wade LeBlanc.

Gregory & Starling in their DR suits (photo WBC2017 via Pirates)

Yesterday's Game: How loaded was the DR lineup yesterday? Ex-Bucco and Dominican manager Tony Pena batted Gregory Polanco eighth. The pitching, tho, isn't quite as set - the DR tossed just three of its rostered arms, filling in the innings with five Pirates minor leaguers. Gerrit Cole was sharp; Tyler Glasnow not so much as he gave up a bundle of hits (in justice, all ground ball knocks), four walks (that's the concern) and a passel of runs. It didn't help when Dan Runzler relieved him and poured some gas on the fire. The Bucs collected 13 hits of their own, with a pair apiece from Josh Bell, Jordy Mercer, Danny Ortiz, Eury Perez and Jackson Williams. It wasn't nearly enough as the Pirates went down 10-6.

Notes:

• Another day, another minor league system ranking. Kelsie Heneghan of MiLB.com rates the organizations by prospects that are 21 or younger and the Bucs were fifth by that metric.

Jared Lakind joins Team Israel (photo Dace Arrigo/Pirates)

• Another off to the WBC - RHP Jared Lakind is joining team Israel for the second round of play.
• It's official - The Pirates and Cardinals will play the "MLB Little League Classic" in Williamsport on August 20th, with the game to be aired on ESPN. The match is a regular season game, not an exhibition, that was originally slated for PNC Park.