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Jordan Lyles, the surprise ace of the Pittsburgh pirates with a 2.81 ERA through nine starts, will face the Cincinnati Reds and rookie right-hander Lucas Sim at 6:40 p.m. Eastern At Great American Ballpark.
Sims, acquired at the July trade deadline last year from the Atlanta Braves in the Adam Duvall deal, has struggled to a 6.01 ERA in 72 career major league innings split between the Braves and Reds, but this year is leading the Triple-A International league with 63 strikeouts in just 44 innings, a rate of 12.8 K’s per 9 innings.
Sims, a six foot, one inch 200 pound right-hander, through a fastball that averaged 92.2 mph last year, mixing in a slider, curve and change. In Triple-A this year he’s allowed a 704 OPS to right-handed batters, fanning 48 of 117 (41%) while having an 852 OPS and 20% k-rate vs left-handed batters.
Joey Votto will sit out his second straight start for the Reds, suffering discomfort in his right hamstring suffered while scoring on a sacrifice fly in the first game yesterday. It’s not expected to be serious.
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PIRATES
1 R Kevin Newman 2B
2 L Gregory Polanco RF
3 R Starling Marte CF
4 S Josh Bell 1B
5 S Melky Cabrera LF
6 L Colin Moran 3B
7 R Elias Diaz C
8 S Cole Tucker SS
9 R Jordan Lyles RHP
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REDS
1 R Nick Senzel CF
2 L Jesse Winker LF
3 R Eugenio Suarez 3B
4 L Derek Dietrich 1B
5 R Yasiel Puig RF
6 R Jose Iglesias SS
7 L Tucker Barnhart C
8 R Jose Peraza 2B
9 R Lucas Sims RHP