Stephen Kolek News: Getting start Sunday

The Padres plan to recall Kolek from Triple-A El Paso to have him start Sunday's game against the Pirates at PNC Park, Kevin Acee of The San Diego Union-Tribune reports.

San Diego had been getting by with a four-man rotation since optioning Kyle Hart to El Paso on April 24, but the team will transition back to a five-man starting staff this weekend and call upon Kolek to fill the void. After losing out to Hart in spring training in the competition for the No. 5 spot in the rotation, Kolek turned in an inflated 6.38 ERA and 1.54 WHIP over 24 innings across his five starts in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, though his 14.4 K-BB% has been encouraging. Kolek will get a favorable draw against a weak Pirates offense for his first career MLB start, and a strong showing could allow him to stick around for multiple turns through the rotation while Yu Darvish (elbow) remains at least a few weeks away from making his season debut.