Saturday, April 6, 2019

Willy v Tanner Roark, Lineup & Notes - Jason Martin Leads Off In His Debut

Game: First pitch is at 1:35 at PNC Park, with the contest on AT&T SportsNet and 93.7 The Fan. And yay, summer - it'll be in the 60's and sunny in the afternoon. Saturday PNC Park starts are all over the board this year; there's one more 1:35 match, with the rest being split between 4:05 and 7:05.

Lineup: Jason Martin LF, Starling Marte CF, Colin Moran 3B, Josh Bell 1B, Melky Cabrera RF, Kevin Newman 2B, Jake Stallings C, Erik Gonzalez SS, Trevor Williams P. The Sunday lineup a day early. Martin makes his MLB debut; his parents, sister, and fiancee flew in from California this weekend to witness this day.

Pitchers: RHP Trevor Williams battles RHP Tanner Roark. Willy did his thing in his last outing, tossing six shutout innings. Trevor was 2-0/1.50 in his 2018 trips v the Redlegs. Roark has one game spun this year, giving up three runs in 4+ IP v Milwaukee, though he did fan six. He faced the Bucs once last year and did pretty well, giving up two runs on six hits over seven frames.

Willy draws today's assignment (photo Pittsburgh Pirates)
Notes:
  • Jason Martin is the first Pirate to lead off in his MLB debut since Starling Marte in 2012; that worked out pretty well back then (Starling homered on the first pitch he saw and went 2-for-4).
  • The Reds have a 28-inning scoreless streak.
  • Alex Stumpf of The Point of Pittsburgh writes about "The Quality Start, The Maddux, And Now...The Williams." 
  • Indy's Mitch Keller went 4-2/3 IP last night in a 5-4 loss to Columbus. He gave up three runs (two earned) on three hits, but walked five while fanning six. Cole Tucker had two hits and went long; Will Craig also homered.
  • Ol' Buccos: Edison Volquez of the Rangers is on the IL with an elbow sprain, not a very welcome development following a year off following TJ surgery. Adrian Sampson is the front runner to claim his rotation spot.

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