Sunday Getaway: JT Brubaker v Max Fried As Bucs Try For Series Split

Today’s Game: The finale begins at 1:20 and will be aired by AT&T SportsNet & 93.7 The Fan.

Lineup: Adam Frazier 2B; Kevin Newman SS; Bryan Reynolds CF; Jake Stallings C; Erik Gonzalez 3B; Gregory Polanco RF; Will Craig 1B; Ildemaro Vargas LF; JT Brubaker P. Ben Gamel is out against a lefty; Vargas has two outings for five innings as a LF’er, so he’s getting some OJT today.

Pitchers: RHP JT Brubaker (3-3/3.27) closes out the set against LHP Max Fried (1-2/5.46). Bru has only allowed more than two runs twice in his eight starts, but his last outing was one of them when he was tagged with a five-spot by the Cards. He had more than his share of bad ball luck that game, so hopefully he’ll be back on the bike today. This will be his first meeting with the Bravos. Fried had a miserable April, but roared back this month, giving up just three runs in 17 IP with 18 whiffs in his last three appearances. He’s only battled the Bucs once, back in 2019, and gave up five runs in four frames.

Notes:

• Adam Frazier has hits in 20 of the last 21 games he’s started.
• Atlanta has swatted a dozen homers in the first three games. They have six players with seven+ bombs; the Pirates long ball leaders have four big flies each.
• No starter has been determined for Tuesday’s game with Trevor Cahill out. GM Ben Cherington said on his Sunday radio show that Miguel Yajure, Cody Ponce and Chase De Jong are all options (though not Chad Kuhl).
• 3B Ke’Bryan Hayes went 1-for-2  in his first rehab game at Indy yesterday.
• C Tony Wolters has been outrighted to AAA by the Cubs; the Bucs had him in the spring and cut him loose when they chose Michael Perez as the backup to Jake. Wolters would have have been a defensive upgrade over Perez but was hitting .125, so he wouldn’t have made much diff at the plate. LHP Williams Jerez, who had a brief stay with the Pirates in 2019, signed a minor league deal with Seattle.

Tomorrow’s Game: The Pirates are off tomorrow and will bang heads with the Cubs at PNC Park on Tuesday.