Chad Kuhl faces down the 26th man in Game Two

After the Pirates down the Tigers 1-0 in the regularly scheduled game, Chad Kuhl faces Ryan Carpenter, called up for the game to make his major league debut.

The 27 year old year left-hander was signed as a minor league free agent this off-season. Originally drafted by Tampa Bay out of Gonzaga in 2011, he went to the Rockies organization in 2014 and spent the last two years at Triple-A Albuquerque.

Described as having a “filthy curve”, Carpenter walked 2.3 and struck out 9.3 batters every 9 innings while pitching his home games at over 6000 feet elevation. vs right-handed batters he had walk and k-rates of 055/216 and vs left-handers 074/329.

Pirates manager Clint Hurdle thus counters with a nearly all right-handed lineup, with the exception of Gregory Polanco, who’s dropped to the 7-spot in the order.

PIRATES

1 R 2B Josh Harrison

2 R SS Jordy Mercer

3 R CF Starling Marte

4 S 1B Josh Bell

5 R DH Francisco Cervelli

6 R 3B David Freese

7 L RF Gregory Polanco

8 R LF Sean Rodriguez

9 R C Elias Diaz

RHP Chad Kuhl

TIGERS

1 R 2B Dixon Machado

2 L 3B Jeimer Candelario

3 R DH Miguel Cabrera

4 R RF Nichlas Castellanos

5 S 1B Niko Goodrum

6 R C James McCann

7 R CF JaCoby Jones

8 R SS Jose Iglesias

9 S LF Victor Reyes

LHP Ryan Carpenter