San Diego - Pittsburgh, Kingham v Richard & Notes - Lefty Lineup Day; J-Hay Back Tomorrow

Today: The game starts at 7:05 and will be on AT&T SportsNet and 93.7 The Fan. The first 20,000 fans will get a vintage bobblehead; it looks like a tow-headed kid, so it can be any player you want it to be. Bring your slickers; the showers are expected to pop up through the night.

Lineup: S-Rod 2B, Jose Osuna RF, Fran Cervelli C, J-Bell 1B, Corey Dickerson LF, David Freese 3B, Austin Meadows CF, Jordy SS & Nick Kingham P. Yah, we know it's a LHP lineup; no, we don't know why S-Rod and Joey O are the top two hitters in the order. The two lefty hitters in the lineup are Corey D, who is raking against LHP (.379) so far and Austin Meadows, who hit .378 at Indy against southpaws this year. We're also wonderin' why Red Beard gets the kid glove treatment against LHP - during 2016-17 in the minors, he hit .282 against them and should get a few looks just to see if he can play every day.

Start #3 for The King (photo via MLB Pipeline)

Pitchers: LHP Clayton Richard (2-5, 5.20) takes on RHP Nick Kingham (2-0, 2.92). Nick has a gem and a so-so to his credit this year and is making his third MLB start tonight. He's been on a yo-yo between here and the minors, and may stay on the treadmill with Joe Musgrove about ready to roll (although the Pirates are playing that move close to the vest). Nick's last two outings have been in the minors while he awaited his next turn here, and neither start was very impressive; hopefully, that's just a little letdown after tasting the show. Richard is bouncing back from a rough start as his last two outings have been solid against the Nats and Cards (five runs in 16 IP). He's adjusted by tossing more sliders and sinkers while cutting down on the four seamer. Richard has seen the Bucs 10 times (five starts) during his career and been tough for the Pirates to solve at 2-2/2.36. That wasn't so true last year, though, when he gave up eight runs in 12 innings against Pittsburgh, although four of the scores were unearned. He's also the latest in a string of lefties thrown at the Pirates recently after seeing nary a one earlier in the year; the Bucs are 6-3 when a LHP starts.

Notes:

Back tomorrow (photo Pittsburgh Pirates)

• The Pirates called up Nick Kingham officially today and Max Moroff was sent to Indy to make space. There will be more action tomorrow as Clint said they're going to activate J-Hay from the DL, with Joe Musgrove waiting in the wings to make his bow later in the week.
• J-Bell is hitting .400 (12-for-30) in his last nine games and .354 with 11 RBI in 15 games this month.
• Nick Kingham is the first Pirates pitcher to win his first two career starts since Gerrit Cole won his first four in 2013.
• Sweet home bullpen: Steven Brault is slashing 2-0/1.69 ERA in his six relief appearances (10-1/3 IP) this season.
• Eric Cole of MLB Daily Dish picks his five surprise teams at the quarter post, and the Bucs are one of them.