Big Joe v Zack Godley, Lineup & Notes - Gregory Back, Brault Sent Down; K-Man Starts Rehab

Game: The PNC Park game against ‘Zona starts at 7:05 and will be on AT&T SportsNet & 93.7 The Fan. Should be a great night outside for some baseball.

Lineup: Adam Frazier 2B, Melky Cabrera LF, Gregory Polanco RF, Josh Bell 1B, Colin Moran 3B, Bryan Reynolds CF, Elias Diaz C, Cole Tucker SS, Joe Musgrove P. Fraze is back and Cervy finally gets a sit-down day. The order doesn’t quite fit the book, but Clint is probably trying to see how everybody fits together. And it looks like the Pirates will finally have a full bench complement.

Pitchers: RHP Joe Musgrove (1-1/0.81) starts the set against RHP Zack Godley (1-1/6.26). Big Joe is off to a “who’d of thunk” start, leading the league in ERA, FIP (1.88) & WHIP (0.761) with nearly a K per frame, and has yet to surrender a long ball. Word of caution, though – the Snakes were all over him last year. In two starts, Musgrove went 0-1/6.36 and only lasted 10 innings. Godley has had some issues with control and keeping the ball in the yard, alternating strong starts/weak starts in his four appearances. He was workmanlike in his lone outing against the Pirates in 2018, going six innings and giving up three runs (two earned) on four hits with five K.

Notes:

• The Pirates have put Gregory Polanco back on the active roster and optioned Steven Brault to Indy. Polanco is good to go except for his arm strength; that’s expected to return at full strength until next season. Kevin Newman is also on his way to Indy to begin a rehab stint.
• The D-Backs just dropped 2-of-3 in a competitive series against the Cubs; they’re 11-11 on the season. These guys will test the staff; they’re one of the better hitting clubs in the NL, unlike the Giants and Tigers. Expect another grinder series; nine of the D-back games have been one-run affairs so far this year.
• Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated likes the way the Pirates play ball.
• Jason Rollison of DK Sports breaks down Josh Bell’s fast start and charts the work of the starting rotation.
• After a rough start, Mitch Keller is starting to feel it. He threw six shutout innings last night, allowing just two hits & three walks (his biggest concern so far this season w/13 walks in 20 IP) and striking out eight as Indy beat Louisville, 2-1, in extra innings. Keller was named International League pitcher of the week today; in his two starts, he gave up one run and posted 13 strikeouts in 11-1/3 IP. He also made Baseball America’s Prospect Hot Sheet (as did 22-year-old RHP Trey Supak, who the Bucs traded to the Brewers in 2016 for Jason Rogers in a deal they’d prob like to take a mulligan on).
• And in AA, Altoona’s James Marvel was named the Eastern League Pitcher of the Week. In 11 innings, he gave up a run on five hits with eight strikeouts.