Game #1: The King v Luis Castillo, Lineup & Notes - Ric Rod 26th Man; McRae Up & Dovy Down

Game #1: The day game starts at 1:10 at Great American Ballpark. It will be aired by AT&T SportsNet and 93.7 The Fan.

Lineup: Adam Frazier 2B, Bryan Reynolds LF, Starling Marte CF, Josh Bell 1B, Melky Cabrera RF, Colin Moran 3B, Elias Diaz C, Kevin Newman SS, Nick Kingham P. Looks like K-Man has taken over at short; makes sense to save the glove guy for defensive purposes later in the game. Redbeard is a no-brainer; he's hitting .327 over the past three weeks (17 games).

The King gets another shot - photo Pittsburgh Pirates

Pitchers: RHP Nick Kingham (1-1/8.76) v RHP Luis Castillo (5-1/2.38). In May, Nick has tossed 14-1/3 IP and doubled his ERA. He's gone 0-1/11.93 in those four outings (two starts) with 19 runs, 27 hits, 10 walks and three homers surrendered. Against the Reds, he made a pair of relief outings and is 1-0/4.50 with five whiffs in four frames, so there's that. And he hasn't had much ball luck - his FIP is 5.05, so he's due for good bounces. In six starts against the Bucs, Castillo slashes 1-3/3.58, but was dominant in his only start this year, giving up a run on two hits with eight K in late March.

Notes:

• Rich Rodriguez will be the 26th man for today's twin bill, which means he's here for one day. It also indicates that the Bucs are ready to give Mitch Keller more than one outing to show his stuff. No roster move has been announced yet to clear Mitch's roster spot; we assume that will be made between games.  Pittsburgh also called up RHP Alex McRae and optioned Dovy Neverauskas back to Indy. Corey Dickerson was flipped to the 60-day IL, leaving him a week of rehab at Indy before he's eligible to return.
• The Pirates haven't seen the Reds since April 7th, but they may be right on time - Pittsburgh has won five in a row against the Redlegs. The Bucs have held them to 2.5 runs/game; we'll see how the restructured staff measures up.
• Per Joe Block, this is the first Memorial Day doubleheader since 1932 between the Reds and Bucs. That was at Forbes Field; this is the first ever in Cincinnati.
• Richard Justice of MLB.com has J-Bell on his list of breakout players that look for real.