Central Bossman Brewers Visit PNC, Willy v Chacin & Notes - Joey O, Ric Rod Return

Today: Front-running Milwaukee comes calling. The game starts at 7:05 and will be on AT&T SportsNet and 93.7 The Fan. Tonight is the Brew Crew's first appearance of the season at PNC Park. The Bucs took two-of-three in Milwaukee in early May and went 7-3 against the Crew last year in Pittsburgh.

Pitchers: RHP Trevor Williams (5-4, 4.38) opens against RHP Jhoulys Chacín (6-1, 3.32). Willy's had eight starts since May; he's 1-3/6.28 during that time with foes batting .301 when he's on the hill, and has given up 20 runs in his last 21 innings. He and the Bucs seem confidant he can bounce back, so we'll see if that's so or if they're whistling past the graveyard. Williams has been solid against Milwaukee at 0-1/3.29 in three career appearances; this will be his first outing of 2018 against them. The Brewers are 12-3 when Chacin starts and he's 6-0/2.86 in his past dozen starts. To add a bit to his arsenal, he debuted a splitter in his last outing. He's seen the Bucs once this year, going six innings and giving up a run on three hits with four K but not getting a decision. Looks like a mismatch on paper, but Chacin's not been money against the Pirates - he's 2-3/4.76 in seven career starts against them, including 2-1/4.88 in four starts at PNC Park.

Willy's looking to regain his touch (photo Pittsburgh Pirates)

Lineup: Josh Harrison 2B, Corey Dickerson LF, Starling Marte CF, Colin Moran 3B, Fran Cervelli C, Josh Bell 1B, Gregory Polanco RF, Jordy SS & Williams P. The usual suspects tonight with Austin Meadows on the pine.

Notes:

• The Pirates called up Jose Osuna and activated Richard Rodriguez from the D, optioning Dovydas Neverauskas and Jacob Stallings to Indy. Both moves were expected; Joey O got the nod over Adam Frazier because of production. Osuna is hitting .340, tho his four homers are a little disappointing, while Fraze has gone 3-for-25 in AAA and obviously still has some work to do with his swing.
• Keep an eye on the pens during the series. The Brewers relief corps has been strong, ranked third in the league with a 2.76 ERA while the Pirates, well, not so much. They rank 25th with a 4.54 ERA.
• In his Sunday radio show, Neal Huntington absolved Clint of his bullpen woes by saying he didn't give him "...a legitimate eighth-inning guy or seventh-inning guy." Both he and the skipper are S-Rod fans, and Hurdle said that there are no thoughts of pulling the plug on Trevor Williams, so the prospects at Indy will have some more heel-cooling to do.
• Indy's Nick Kingham was named the International League Pitcher of the Week. He started once and tossed eight scoreless innings, giving up two hits with six strikeouts.
• 1B/3B Will Craig of Altoona was named the Eastern League Player of the Week after hitting .522 with five homers and 12 RBIs in six games.