Pirates Final Battle Royal, Arch v Fillmyer, Lineup & Notes - Elbow Surgery for Kuhl

Today: The game starts at 7:05 and will be aired by AT&T SportsNet & 93.7 The Fan.

Pitchers:  RHP Chris Archer (4-8, 4.66) closes out the set against RHP Heath Fillmyer (3-1, 4.76).  The Bucs are waiting for the Arch they dealt for to show up; so far too many pitches, too few innings and too many runs. He hasn’t seen KC this year and in one 2017 outing, he tossed an eight-inning shutout, giving up five hits and fanning 11, so seems like a good matchup. Fillmyer came over as part of the Brandon Moss trade and features a fastball/curve/change repertoire. He’s been erratic since being called up in June both in length and performance, so it’s tough to tell what guy to expect. Fillmyer has never tossed against the Bucs.

Lineup: Adam Frazier 2B, Starling Marte CF, J-Bell 1B, Fran Cervelli C, Corey Dickerson LF, Pablo Reyes RF, Colin Moran 3B, Kevin Newman SS, Archer P. The September grab bag continues…

Notes:

• Chad Kuhl had elbow surgery today. The team won’t say what kind; they’ll release the details later as Chad is still is in post-op and the club wants to talk to him and his doc before releasing any information. He’s been on the DL since June 27th.
• In other injury news, Gregory is recuperating well from his labrum surgery and will eventually head to Bradenton to begin his rehab. Jung-Ho Kang is also coming along; he took some swings in a sim game at Pirates City.
• The Pirates have won their last seven home games and have gone 9-3 in their last 12. They’ve also won 10-of-13 going into tonight. The Pirates have additionally posted a 14-5 record in interleague play this season to reinforce the fact that they’re the Kennywood Kids of baseball who can’t get off the roller coaster.
• No surprise here: Starling Marte leads all NL players with 29 infield hits.
• For the first time in club history, the Pirates have two relievers with at least 80 strikeouts in the same season. Felipe Vázquez has whiffed 83 batters and Richard Rodriguez has punched out 82.
• Austin Meadows finally got the call up to Tampa, joining Tyler Glasnow. AM hit .344 with 10 homers in AAA for the Rays; apparently, they’re keeping an eye on his service time too.