Steven Brault v Aaron Civale, Lineup & Notes

Game: Game two against the Tribe starts at 7:05 at PNC Park and will be carried by AT&T SportsNet & 93.7 The Fan.

Lineup: Adam Frazier 2B, Kevin Newman SS, Josh Bell DH, Colin Moran 1B, Bryan Reynolds LF, Gregory Polanco RF, Jose Osuna 3B, JT Riddle CF, Jake Stallings C and Steven Brault P. Riddle, btw, played some center last year for the Fish. And hey – a Joey O sighting!

Pitchers: LHP Steven Brault (0-0, 5.14) takes on RHP Aaron Civale (2-2/3.60). Steven has been unlinked from the piggyback role. In three of his four outings, he’s put up a zero, although in the odd appearance, he faced six batters without getting an out. Brault hasn’t hit the 40-pitch mark yet nor gone longer than three frames, so a five-inning outing would be a plus. The 25-year-old Civale keeps the ball around the plate (one walk per nine), has swing and miss stuff (a K per inning), and should have plenty of opportunity to settle in (he’s only tossed 82-2/3 IP in the bigs over 14 starts) with Mike Clevinger and Zach Plesac out of the picture for now.

Notes:

• The Pirates have employed 25 pitchers this season, behind only Miami which has already had 30 appear. The Bucs used a club-record 34 hurlers in 162 games last year.
• Pittsburgh’s team BA (.213), team OBP (.276) and slugging % (.339) are all last in the NL. 
• Injury report: Kyle Crick threw live BP; Joe Musgrove is slated to throw off a slope; Mitch Keller is  playing catch on flat ground; Yacksel Rios has been shut down for the time being; James Marvel, who was hurt earlier in the year, should begin throwing soon and it was decided that Phil Evans will have surgery to wire his broken jaw; he’ll be ready for camp next year. Nick Burdi, Michael Felix and Clay Holmes are all being sent home to recover from longer-term injuries.