Wednesday: Bucs at Boston on ESPN, Lineup & Pitchers, Game Recap, Notes

Game: The Pirates visit the BoSox at JetBlue Park in Fort Meyers with a 1:05 opening pitch. The contest will be carried by ESPN on TV and MLB Gameday.

Lineup: Pablo Reyes CF, Jung Ho Kang 3B, Colin Moran 3B, Jose Osuna 1B, JB Shuck RF, Kevin Newman SS, Kevin Kramer 2B, Jason Martin LF, Steven Baron C (Nick Kingham P). Kang is batting second again; dunno if that's a thing or just a way to get him an extra at-bat at this point. OF Bryan Reynolds, 3B Ke'Bryan Hayes, SS Cole Tucker and 1B Will Craig are on today's B-Team.

JHK back in the two spot.(2017 Topps)

Pitchers: RHP Nick Kingham gets the call v RHP Josh Smith. Kyle Crick, Richard Rodriguez, Tyler Lyons, Dovy Neverauskas and Jesus Liranzo fill the rest of the dance card.

Yesterday's Game: The Bucs drew first blood when Fraze doubled home Pat Kivlehan in the second. Archie looked sharp with four K in his two frames of work, but the O's hung a two-spot on Steven Brault in the fourth to take the lead. Pittsburgh swung back in the fifth; Melky Cabrera singled home Kivlehan, JB Shuck bopped a solo shot and J-Bell closed out the frame with a three-run blast to open it up. Kevin Kramer added another bomb in the seventh; the Birds cut into that with a pair of homers off Michael Feliz to make it 7-4. The Pirates piled it on in the ninth as Will Craig slashed a two-out, two-run two-bagger and Ke'Bryan Hayes tripled him home to make it 10-4,and that's how it finished.

All the vet OF guys vying for a spot, Lonnie Chisenhall, Pat Kivlehan, Melky Cabrera and JB Shuck, along with pup Jason Martin, are hitting .300+ after two weeks. None of the five-hole pitching contenders - Jordan Lyles, Nick Kingham & Steven Brault, have stepped up, all with ERA's of 7.20+. SS Erik Gonzalez is hitting .071. Ditto for Colin Moran, who's trying to stave off Jung Ho Kang and Ke'Byran Hayes. The next coupla weeks of the 2019 shake down cruise should be interesting, as the herd gets thinned and the big dogs get to sort it all out.

Notes:

• Felipe Vazquez was a scratch yesterday; he has an upper respiratory bug and is day to day. Lonnie Chisenhall is good to go after a couple of days off, and Elias Diaz is still suffering from a viral condition and is no closer to action. Gregory Polanco is still tossing, running and taking BP.
• Alex Stumpf of The Point of Pittsburgh has a piece that touts the obvious - it's a good time to kick the tires of FA's Dallas Keuchel and Gio Gonzalez, then work on extending Jamo. Keuchel is looking for a minimum of four years and costs a draft pick, but Gio and JT should fit into the budget.
• Per John Dreker of Pirates Prospects, the Bucs signed 31-year-old OF Trayvon Robinson to a minor league deal. He spent some of 2011-12 with Seattle and worked the past three seasons in the Atlantic indie league, mainly with Lancaster, hitting .280. He's purely upper level depth.
• Baseball America has its preseason preview out. For the Buccos, they start with "The Pirates aren’t terrible and might even contend in a weaker division, but..."
• Ah, Florida - after the game at Sarasota, they lat the fans run the bases, per The Fan's Jim Colony, but with a twist: you have to be a senior, 60 or older.
• The MLB and Mexican League have agreed on a new player transfer deal. If the player is 25-years-old or more, or has six years in the league, he can sign free and clear with an MLB club, with a pre-determined transfer fee determined by the amount of the player's contract. The MLB had banned its teams from accepting Mexican League transfers last year after some fishy financing was uncovered