Thursday, May 31, 2018

Off To Birdland, Williams v Flaherty & Notes

Today: The game starts at 7:15 and will be on AT&T SportsNet and 93.7 The Fan.

Lineup: J-Hay 2B, Cervy C, Starling CF, J-Bell 1B, Corey D LF, Colin 3B, Gregory RF, Jordy SS & Willy P. Austin gets a day off, so much for going with the hot hand.

Pitchers: RHP Trevor Williams (5-3, 3.43) gets the ball rolling against RHP Jack Flaherty (2-1, 2.15). This is already the third time these two have gone head-to-head and this will be their rubber match. Willy's had a tough May, posting a 4.88 ERA in five starts and only getting past five innings twice. He's faced the Cards twice this year, getting chased after four innings in a loss last week (four runs, seven hits) after winning in April, going six innings and surrendering two runs on six hits. Flaherty went six innings and gave up a run while beating Willy in his last outing, and gave up a three-spot in five innings in an April loss to him.

Trevor on tap tonight (photo Joe Guzy/Pirates)
Notes:
  • Cervy and Eli have caught 11-of-31 attempted base swipers for a 35% toss-out rate; last year the Pirates backstops tossed out just 23%. The league average so far in 2018 is 27%.
  • The Cardinals took two of three in Pittsburgh, and then dropped two of three at first-place Milwaukee as they too are jogging on the Central Division treadmill. They're 29-24, five games behind the Brew Crew and one game ahead of the Buccos.
  • Jung Ho Kang will join the Bradenton roster tomorrow. (The Marauders are the Bucs High Class A club.) And yes, it was just a day ago that Pirates director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk said Jung Ho Kang was still "in spring training build-up." Guess a goods night sleep was all it took, lol. Btw, it's not like a rehab assignment where he gets 30 days to join the roster. The Bucs can keep him in the minors until they deem him capable of playing MLB ball again.
  • The Pirates added Bob Smizik and Stan Savran to their Media Wall of Fame today.
  • The Phils DFA'ed RHP Drew Hutchison, who was traded to Pittsburgh for Frankie Liriano & company in 2016.

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