Gamethread: Williams starts game 1 in St. Louis

The Pirates start a three game set at St. Louis Friday night. Gregory Polanco and Adam Frazier return from the disabled list, with Polanco batting third while Andrew McCutchen takes a day off. Jordan Luplow remains in the lineup, shifting to left field while Starling Marte will man center.

Trevor Williams is coming off seven scoreless innings against the Reds on Sunday, and has only allowed two runs in his last three starts, covering 20 innings. He’s held the opposition to three runs or less in 19 of his 22 starts, and since his disastrous first start vs the Dodgers has a 3.68 ERA in 120 innings. St. Louis will start only two left-handed batters against Williams.

Cardinals rookie right-hander Luke Weaver has won all three of his starts since re-entering the rotation, posting a 1.83 ERA in that span while walking only 4 and striking out 29 in only 19 ²⁄₃ innings. Weaver has struck out 11.2 batters per 9 innings over his 72 career innings in MLB, relying primarily on a fastball that he throws 59% of his pitches and averages 93.1 mph, and a change-up another 25% of the time.

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PIRATES

1 R Starling Marte, CF

2 S Max Moroff, 2B

3 L Gregory Polanco, RF

4 S Josh Bell, 1B

5 R David Freese, 3B

6 R Jordan Luplow, LF

7 R Elias Diaz, C

8 R Jordy Mercer, SS

9 R Trevor Williams, RHP

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CARDINALS

1 L Matt Carpenter, 3B

2 R Stephen Piscotty, RF

3 R Tommy Pham, CF

4 R Jose Martinez, 1B

5 R Yadi Molina, C

6 R Randal Grichul, LF

7 L Greg Garcia, 2B

8 R Alex Mejia, SS

9 R Luke Weaver, RHP