McKechnie Field will see action on Friday, as the Pirates will play an inter-squad game at 12:05. The Grapefruit League kicks off on Saturday against the Toronto Blue Jays in Dunedin.
The game will be eight-innings. Thursday’s workout at Pirate City will be the last for the Major League club, as they move to McKechnie for the season starting Friday. Those who are not on the roster for the inter-squad game will workout at Pirate City.
“There comes a time when these guys want to play a game,” Pirates Manager Clint Hurdle said. “I think everything’s right on schedule. The games are coming at the right time. A week into it, you’ll be able to reevaluate, recalibrate and obviously have a different set of things you’re looking at and trying to identify in areas that may need more instruction, or more attention.”
Lineups for Friday:
Team Black:
Alex Presley 7
Clint Barmes 6
Nate McLouth 8
Neil Walker 4
Nick Evans 5
Brandon Boggs 9
Matt Hague 3
Jeff Clement DH
Michael McKenry 2
Starting pitcher will be Jeff Karstens, who will pitch two innings.
Following Karstens in relief are Rudy Owens (2 innings), Gerrit Cole, Jared Hughes, Bryan Morris, Tim Wood
Chase d’Arnaud is listed as an extra guy for team black.
Team Gold:
Jose Tabata 9
Josh Harrison 4
Andrew McCutchen 8
Garrett Jones 3
Casey McGehee DH
Pedro Alvarez 5
Yamaico Navarro 6
Gorkys Hernandez 7
Eric Fryer 2
Kevin Correia will start for the Gold team, pitching two innings.
Following Correia in relief are: Jeff Locke (two innings), Kyle McPherson (2), Mike Crotta, Duke Welker
Extras listed for team Gold: Jordy Mercer, Starling Marte, Jake Fox and Tony Sanchez
– After workouts today Hurdle on who could be a starting candidate that could be pushed into the bullpen:
There’s a lot that will play into it. There’s no set standard of things we got to have in a certain order for a certain check list.