Cardinals - Bucs Back At It, Willy v Flaherty & Notes - Shook Lineup, Marte Back, Joey O Gone, Ivan Kinda Hurt, Manager Meetings + More

Today: The game starts at 4:05 and will be aired by AT&T SportsNet and 93.7 The Fan. The first 20,000 through the gates get a floppy camo hat to wear proudly when attacking the lawn (and also to keep their noggins dry if a passing rain cloud or two floats by).

Lineup: Josh Harrison 2B, Fran Cervelli C, Starling Marte CF, J-Bell 1B, Corey Dickerson LF, Colin Moran 3B, Gregory Polanco RF, Jordy SS & Trevor Williams P. Cervy stays up top, Gregory drops down; pretty logical move at this point.

Willy on the rubber (photo Pittsburgh Pirates)

Pitchers: RHP Trevor Williams (5-2, 3.05) and phenom RHP Jack Flaherty (1-1, 2.31) mix it up. Willy has regressed after an unsustainable start; three of his last four games haven't even qualified as quality starts. So a little bounce back is hopefully due. Trevor is 2-2/6.85 in seven career appearances (four starts) against the Redbirds. He's 1-0 in one start this year, allowing two runs over six innings while winning a 6-2 decision against Flaherty in April at PNC Park. He was 0-2 in three starts last season. Flaherty is making his fourth start; he's given up one run in three of them. His last outing was a two-hit, one run, 13 K outing against Philly during a 7-2/3 inning stint. Flaherty keeps you guessing - his go-to is the slider, but he has a five-pitch repertoire. He faced the Bucs once this year, and gave up three runs in five innings in losing to Willy. The Pirates drew four walks that day; it's the only game that he's issued more than one free pass, and we'd expect the Pirates to work him at least the first time through the order.

Notes:

• The Pirates activated Starling Marte off the DL and optioned Jose Osuna to Indy, not a big surprise as Clint has glued Joey O to the bench lately.
• For those waiting on further Nick Kingham news, don't hold your breath. There won't be any more noise until the day he's added to the 25-man roster. But the Pirates report that Ivan Nova has a strained ligament in right index finger, so we'll find out more on Tuesday when he's scheduled to pitch. The team doesn't believe it's a major strain, so his status is TBD, as is Kingham's.
• Clint met briefly with Corey Dickerson and then Gregory Polanco behind closed doors. Three lefty-hitting outfielders precludes a platoon situation, so a playing rotation appears in the works, especially as Austin Meadows is the backup in center, too...

Looks like the Bucs are gonna work AM into the lineup (image Pgh Pirates)

• Meadows has 13 hits in his first seven MLB games. Only Jack Merson had more as a Pirate, recording 14 in 1951. Fred Kommers (1913) and Gregory Polanco (2014) also had 13 knocks in their first seven big league games.
• The Pirates are 12-5 against NL Central does so far this year; they were 33-43 in 2017, due mainly to a dismal 6-13 performance against the Reds.
• Seems like Richard Rodriguez gets more love from Emma Baccellieri of Sports Illustrated than he does from Clint.
• He finally wrangled it - Blue Jay's C Russ Martin will make his first career start at short today.
• Erik Kratz was traded to the Brew Crew by the Yankees for cash/PTBNL.