The King v Brandon Woodruff, Lineup & Notes

Game: First pitch is at 4:05 and the game will be carried by Fox Sports 1 and 93.7 The Fan. It's Chris Archer bobblehead night and a Heritage Game - the Pirates will wear the unis of the Pittsburgh Crawfords and the Brewers will be decked in Milwaukee Bear flannels.

Lineup: Kevin Newman SS, Gregory Polanco RF, Starling Marte CF, Josh Bell 1B, Melky Cabrera LF, Colin Moran 3B, Elias Diaz C, Adam Frazier 2B, Nick Kingham P. Eli got a blow yesterday and Clint is swapping Bryan Reynolds out for Melky. They've been an effective duo; it'll be interesting to see how the skip plays it when Corey Dickerson is back.

Nick on the bump - 2018 Topps Update

Pitchers: RHP Nick Kingham (1-1/8.28) trades tosses against RHP Brandon Woodruff (7-1/3.22). Nick is 0-1/8.63 in three starts and hasn't made it through the fifth inning yet. He was 2-1 in four 2018 outings (three starts) against Milwaukee, but with a 7.80 ERA. The King needs to turn promise into performance, and in a hurry. Today's not an ideal matchup for a guy who's struggling: Woodruff has been pitching lights out in his past six outings, going 5-0/1.42, and he's gone eight innings in his last two visits to the slab w/43 K in 38 IP.  He didn't start against the Pirates in 2018, but did shut them out in his four innings of relief work. And he can help himself, hitting .370 so far this campaign.

Notes:

• Keone Kela's injury is tough to nail down and therefore tough to treat. Buc medico's told Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic that it's just general "wear and tear" and not a "specific thing."
• Alex Stumpf of Bucs Dugout has a piece on J-Bell's Superman month.
• MLB Trade Rumor's Connor Byrne looks at a couple of Bucco trades that he says "...help explain why the Pirates are stuck in neutral."
• 1B/OF Steve Pearce is not only having a dismal year so far at Boston (.180/1 HR) but now is on the IL with a lower back sprain.