Friday: Pittsburgh at Colorado, Williams v Jeff Hoffman, Lineup, Notes

Tonight: The Pirates open at Colorado with first pitch at 8:40. AT&T SportsNet and 93.7 The Fan will carry the contest.

Lineup: Starling Marte LF, Josh Harrison 2B, Cutch CF, Josh Bell 1B, David Freese 3B, Gregory Polanco RF, Fran Cervelli C, Jordy Mercer SS & Trevor Williams P. The big boy lineup tonight.

Trevor opening up what could be a very interesting Bucco road trip (photo Pittsburgh Pirates)

Pitchers: Trevor Williams (3-4, 4.69) tries to keep the good times rollin' against Jeff Hoffman (6-1, 4.33).  He pitched decently in his last outing but received a no-decision v St. Louis. He's gone 2-2/3.95 in his last 12 starts, helped out by being stingy with the long ball - he's surrendered a home run in just two of his last 10 outings. Williams has been charged with three runs or less in each of his last five road assignments. Trevor will be making his first appearance against Colorado and at Coors Field. Hoffman isn't much of a homeboy. He's 2-1/6.44 in six appearances (five starts) at Coors Field this season, tossing much better on the road. He also has a pretty strong reverse split, so no need to load up with lefties against him. This is  Hoffman's first career start against Pittsburgh

Notes:

• Pittsburgh pitchers have struck out at least 10 batters in each of the last four games and if the staff can strike out 10 or more Colorado batters tonight, it would mark the first time in team history that the Bucco pitching staff had 10 or more Ks in five consecutive games during the same season. They did have a six-game streak spanning 2015 (last three games) and 2016 (first three games).
• The Rockies and Pirates played one series in Pittsburgh earlier this season, with the Pirates taking 2-of-3 in June.
• Anthony Castrovince of Sports on Earth picks his 10 most interesting deadline teams; he's debating buy/sell for the local nine.
• Dedicated fans: After their bus got trapped under a North Side overpass yesterday, some of the veterans who were on a day trip from Erie to the Pirates game were pushed in wheelchairs a half-mile to  the Pirates game by police and staffers, with those who could walk the distance hoofing it to the park.
• SS Kevin Newman was just promoted to Indy and banged out three hits in his AAA debut.