Pirates' Nick Kingham: Expected to receive second start

Kingham, who spun seven shutout, one-hit innings in his major-league debut Sunday against the Cardinals, boarded the Pirates' team flight to Washington following the game and is expected to receive another start this week, Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic Pittsburgh reports.

Due to an April 25 doubleheader against the Tigers, the Pirates were playing their sixth game in five days Sunday and thus required a sixth starter on a temporary basis. The expectation was that Kingham would make a spot start before returning to Triple-A Indianapolis following the outing, but those plans likely changed after the right-hander carried a perfect game into the seventh inning and finished with nine strikeouts. With Steven Brault reaching the sixth inning just once in his five starts this season and owning an unremarkable 4.97 ERA and 1.34 WHIP, it appears he'll surrender his spot in the rotation to Kingham and either move to the bullpen or head to Triple-A. Kingham likely lines up for his second start with the Pirates on his normal four days' rest Friday in Milwaukee.