Wednesday: Trevor Cahill Closes Set Against Jack Flaherty; Injury, Minors News

Today’s Game: First pitch is 7:45 and the game will be aired by AT&T SportsNet & 93.7 The Fan.

Lineup: Adam Frazier 2B; Kevin Newman SS; Bryan Reynolds CF; Gregory Polanco RF; Will Craig 1B; Ben Gamel LF; Wilmer Difo 3B; Michael Perez C; Trevor Cahill P. Looks like Stalls is a little more banged up than the Bucs owned up to, although he is considered available to play tonight. Ka’ai Tom has a sore wrist that’s being evaluated.

Pitchers: RHP Trevor Cahill (1-4/5.97) gets the getaway assignment v RHP Jack Flaherty (7-0/2.47). Trevor’s been solid in three of his past four games, so maybe the see-saw ride is over. The Cards banged him around for five runs in 5-1/3 IP on May 1st. He’s not been particularly strong against the Golden Archers, with a 1-4/4.53 career slash in 15 appearances (seven starts). Flaherty leads MLB in wins, and in his last seven games has tossed to a 1.47 ERA and a .174 opponent BA, going at least six frames in a half dozen of those contests. He beat the Pirates on May 1st against Cahill, but they did have some success against him, scoring three times in six innings.

Notes:

• Adam Frazier ranks first in the NL in hits (52), fourth in batting (.321), and is tied for third in doubles (13). Aside from Fraze, the Pirates have three position players hitting over .250: Redbeard (.297) , B-Rey (.293) & Jake Stallings (.257). The remainder are hitting .233 or worse; three active players (Will Craig, Ben Gamel & Michael Perez) are batting under .200. The batting lines for Perez: he started the season 1-for-18, went 3-for-3 against the Twins on 4/24, and now is struggling through an 0-for-23 stretch for an overall .091 BA with 18 K in 44 ABs.
• Ke’Bryan Hayes will begin his rehab assignment at Indy in the next day or two after playing a sim game, joining RHP Chad Kuhl who is scheduled to toss tonight, and LH reliever Austin Davis. Kyle Crick threw live BP, and none of the other IL listers – Colin Moran, Phil Davis, and Steven Brault – are close yet.
• Minor Notes: Indy’s OF Travis Swaggerty will come to Pittsburgh to get his R shoulder injury looked at; he’s expected to go on the minor league IL. Greensboro SS prospect Liover Peguero is on 7-day IL due to a knee contusion that’s *knock on wood* not considered serious. In better news, Altoona’s RHP prospect Roansy Contreras extended his scoreless streak to 17-2/3 innings to start the season; he has 28 K, tops in the minors, so far this campaign.

Tomorrow’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. Wil Crowe goes for the Pirates, Drew Smyly for the Bravos.