Pirates-Nats Open, Taillon v Roark & Notes

Today: The game starts at 7:05 and will be carried by AT&T SportsNet and 93.7 The Fan. The Nats are in a slump, having lost 7-of-10 as the attack has been banged with Daniel Murphy, Anthony Rendon and Adam Eaton on the DL while the Bucs are on a five-game roll.

Lineup: Adam Frazier 2B; Gregory Polanco RF; Sean Rodriguez CF; J-Bell 1B; Corey Dickerson LF; Fran Cervelli C; Colin Moran 3B; Jordy SS & Jameson Taillon P. Starling gets a day off, his first, and Clint decided not to mess with the lineup, so he plugged S-Rod into Marte's three-hole. And raise your hand if you had Sean as the backup in center...

Jamo looking for a bounce-back game (photo Pittsburgh Pirates)

Pitchers: RHP Jameson Taillon (2-2, 4.91) opens against RHP Tanner Roark (1-2, 3.77). It's been the penthouse or outhouse for Jamo; he had a 16-inning scoreless streak, but now is coming off a pair of pretty poor performances. So we'll see if he stays in a funk or gets his mojo back tonight. JT is 0-0/3.00 in two career starts against the Nats, once last year and once in 2016. While he didn't get a decision in either outing, the Bucs are 2-0 in those games. Roark has been stingy with hits and strong with walks/K's, but a bit of a long-ball issue has hurt him this year. He spun an eight-inning, five-hit goose egg against the Pirates in 2016 but was treated much less gently last year, giving up nine runs in six IP in his two Pittsburgh outings.

Notes:

• Nick Kingham will remain on the roster (d'oh) for the road trip, but his role hasn't been determined yet. The team celebrated his debut win yesterday by wheeling him around the locker room in an equipment hamper while showering him with mustard from a squirt container. We suspect he may have preferred a Gatorade shower, but it was cold out...
• LHP Enny Romero will not be DFA'ed as originally planned but instead placed the 10-day DL with a left shoulder impingement. His agent told the Pirates he was hurt in his last outing, so he got a trip to the DL rather than to the waiver wire. And for the conspiratorial, we don't think this a roster-related ploy; Enny's fastball has dropped from 98 to 95 this year, so it appears he was trying to soldier through a semi-dead arm.
• MLB.com has a team effort (Daniel Kramer, Manny Randhawa, Matt Kelly and Jaylon Thompson), inspired by Nick Kingham's debut, of great MLB opening acts, some by guys who went on to stardom and others who faded from the scene. 
• The beat goes on: the latest fan-management head butting involves a fan who was forced to remove his T-Shirt that said "Spend Nutting, Win Nutting." Kinda childish thing to draw a line over, we think.