Thursday: Atlanta Set Opens With Wil Crowe v Drew Smyly

Today's Game: The Bucs visit the Atlanta Braves at Truist Stadium, with game time at 7:20. The match will be carried by AT&T SportsNet PITT-2 and 93.7 The Fan. 

Lineup: Adam Frazier 2B; Kevin Newman SS; Bryan Reynolds CF; Jake Stallings; Gregory Polanco RF; Eric Gonzalez 3B; Will Craig 1B; Ben Gamel LF; Wil Crowe P. Jake is back behind the dish; Tom is still down with a sore wrist.

Will Craig gets a good look - image AT&T SportsNet

Pitchers: RHP Wil Crowe (0-2/4.35) opens against LHP Drew Smyly (2-2/5.23). In his last three games, Wil has tossed to a 4.50 ERA, which matches his FIP of 4.49 pretty well. He gives you five or six innings of two or three run ball, and that's a pretty dependable back-ender. He's faced Atlanta once, in 2020, and they smacked two homers and drew four walks against him in 2-1/3 IP.  After a rough start, Smyly has allowed just one earned run over his last 12 innings, so it might be a bad time to be catching him. He last saw Pittsburgh in 2019, with two no-decision starts and a 3.86 ERA.

Notes:

• Good week; Gregory Polanco has hit safely in six of his last seven games, going 8-for-23 (.348) with a pair of doubles, home run and six RBI. Also heating up is Kevin Newman, who has two hits in two straight and three of his last four games.
• Trevor Cahill's calf injury is being called day-to-day. Shelty said they should know more about recovery time in a day or two and whether Cahill will miss a start or not.
• Rule 5 RHP Jose Soriano (TJ surgery) will begin his rehab assignment tonight with Low-A Bradenton.
• San Diego (and former Pirates) reliever Keone Kela underwent TJ surgery yesterday.

Tomorrow's Game: Game time is 7:20 and will be on AT&T SportsNet & 93.7 The Fan. It's a clash of the Andersons, with Pittsburgh's Tyler taking on Atlanta's Ian.