Tuesday: Bucs & Brewers, Kuhl v Zach Davies, Lineup, Notes

Tonight: First pitch is at 7:40 with the game carried by Root Sports and 93.7 The Fan.

Lineup: Adam Frazier LF, Josh Harrison 2B, Gregory Polanco RF, David Freese 3B, Fran Cervelli C, Cutch CF, Jose Osuna 1B, Jordy Mercer SS & Chad Kuhl P. Jose gets the call at first base tonight.

Pitchers: Chad Kuhl (1-6, 5.61) takes the bump v Zach Davies (7-3, 4.91). The Cool Chad has tossed solid ball in four of his last five outings. But he hasn’t worked more than five innings since mid-April and lost his last six decisions so he’s due for a little ball luck. One thing in his favor is that he’s been strong on the road. Chad hasn’t won in five starts but put up a solid 3.42 ERA. The 24-year-old is 1-0/ 1.76 in three career starts against The Crew. He’s faced them once this year in a scoreless three-inning stint at PNC; he was given the rest of the night off following a rain delay. Davies has been for the most part a “quality start” pitcher for the Brew Crew. He hasn’t gone past six innings yet this year and has been dinged at Miller Field with a 4-3/5.40 slash and 1.636 WHIP. He does have a victory over Pittsburgh this year, going 5-2/3 IP in a 6-2 Brew Crew win.

Notes:

• Jordy has a nine-game hitting streak going on.
• The Jekyl and Hyde Bucs are 6-3 after going through a four-game losing streak after winning 5-of-6.
• Juan Nicasio was available from the pen last night; he was shut down for a day after a bout of fatigue.
• Mitch Keller pitched two rehab innings for West Virginia in his first outing after recovering from a back injury. He gave up a hit and struck out four in two innings/30 pitches, his limit.
• The Pirates signed eight more college players: C Jason Delay (4th round, Vandy), C Deon Stafford (5th round, St. Joe’s), LHP Blake Weiman (8th round, Kansas), OF Bligh Madris (9th round, Colorado Mesa), RHP Beau Sulser (10th round, Dartmouth), INF Tristan Gray (13th round, Rice), RHP Gavin Wallace (15th round, Fairfield) and INF Nick Valaika (24th round, UCLA). They signed RHP Shane Baz (1st round – Concordia Lutheran HS – $4.1M) and OF Jared Oliva (7th round, Arizona – $200K) earlier. The bonuses for today’s gang of draftees wasn’t announced. Three prep picks from the first day have yet to ink a deal.