Wednesday: Trevo v Rich Hill, Lineup (Sanchez Here, Santana Gone), Notes

Tonight: Los Angeles answers the bell for round three tonight, starting at 7:05. The contest will be on AT&T SportsNet and 93.7 The Fan.

Lineup: Starling Marte LF, Josh Harrison 2B, Cutch CF, Josh Bell 1B, David Freese 3B, S-Rod RF, Jordy Mercer SS, Stew C, Trevor Williams P. Whoa - J-Bell is starting against a lefty!

Trevo's turn (photo Pittsburgh Pirates)

Pitchers: Trevor Williams (5-6, 4.71) takes on Rich Hill (9-4, 3.54).  After a pretty good stretch of starts, Trevo's road has been bumpy in the last couple of outings (11 runs, six earned in nine IP) and he was banged around badly by the Cards (three homers, previously not a Williams issue) in his last effort, so it'll be interesting to see if he can climb back on the bar stool against baseball's top guns tonight. His outing against LA this year was a disaster; it was his first game stepping in to replace Jamo back in May. He surrendered six runs in the first inning en route to losing a 12-1 decision. The curve-balling Hill started off on a bad foot (or we should say, hand) in LA, hampered by a blister that he couldn't get rid of until mid-June. In the 10 starts since then, he's gone 6-1/2.59 with 77 whiffs in 59 IP, but he does have an away split for the Bucs to hang a hat on (the southpaw also has a reverse split, with lefties hitting him pretty well, but Clint chose to let that slide). Hill is 3-1/3.69 in eight career starts against the Pirates, but has faced them just once since 2008, getting a no-decision last year when he spun six frames, giving up two runs on four hits.

Notes:

• Well, that was quick. Edgar Santana was returned to Indy and RHP Angel Sanchez called up. We can't recall seeing a bullpen fire drill of this magnitude before. Angel was having a breakout 2015 in AAA, but was felled by TJ surgery and missed 2016. He was used out of the pen this year after having previously started with a 3-5-1/3.74 line and 65 K in 55 IP (39 appearances; he's still a multi-inning guy).

Angel Sanchez at camp (photo Dave Arrigo/Pirates)

• The Pirates have scored five or more runs in seven straight games for the first time since 1996; the last time Pittsburgh scored five or more runs in eight consecutive games (tonight's goal) was in 1983. The Pirates had won 18 straight games when scoring four or more runs prior to this run but have gone 2-5 during this burst.
• Jim Lane of AltoonaCurve.com has the goods on 24-year-old Curve closer Tate Scioneaux, a late 2015 draft pick that's tossing at his third minor league level this year.