The Pirates will be playing a B-game today at Pirate City. I’m still waiting on the lineups to be announced for the minor league squad, but here is the major league lineup:
Team A
1. Brock Holt – SS
2. Jarek Cunningham – 2B
3. Casey McGehee – 3B
4. Ramon Cabrera – C
5. Andrew Lambo – RF
6. Quincy Latimore – CF
7. Matt Curry – 1B
8. Jeremy Farrell – DH
9. Miles Durham – LF
The pitchers today are Charlie Morton (2 innings), Rudy Owens (3 innings), Kyle McPherson (3 innings), Gerrit Cole (2 innings) and Duke Welker (1 inning). My guess is that Owens and McPherson will pitch for one team and Morton, Cole, and Welker will pitch for the other team since the game is expected to last six innings.
I’ll update this post when I learn more about the minor league lineup and who is pitching for which team.
9:45 AM: McGehee will be hitting for both teams and won’t be playing the field. Not sure who will be playing third base for the major league team, but I’m guessing they’ll play third for both teams.
9:50 AM: The lineup for the other team, we’ll call them “Team B”:
Team B
1. Starling Marte – CF
2. Robbie Grossman – LF
3. Jake Fox – 3B
4. Jeff Clement – 1B
5. Eric Fryer – RF
6. Jordy Mercer – SS
7. Chase d’Arnaud – 2B
8. Tony Sanchez – C
9. Casey McGehee – DH
Brian Friday will be playing third base for Team A, listed above. Charlie Morton will be pitching for Team B.
10:00 AM: McPherson will be starting for Team A. We’re about the have the first pitch. Morton just finished up with his bullpen work, and McPherson is currently warming up.
10:03 AM: First pitch is thrown. Morton to Brock Holt. Strike one right down the middle. I’ll be updating after each half inning.
10:09 AM: Morton got out to an 0-2 count on Holt, threw two balls, then caught him looking for strike three. Jarek Cunningham beat out a slow chopper to third base. Fox barehanded the ball, but Cunningham beat out the throw. Morton picked off Cunningham at first on a 1-1 count to McGehee. It wasn’t even close. A sinker gets McGehee to pop out to d’Arnaud in shallow center field. Morton threw 11 pitches, 8 for strikes.
10:17 AM: Marte hits an 0-1 chopper to third base. Brian Friday misplays it for an error. At least that’s what I called it. That has since earned me the role of official scorer in our make-shift press box. McPherson gets Grossman to strike out looking after brushing him back with a high fastball. He follows that up by hitting Jake Fox in the elbow with an inside pitch. He gets Jeff Clement to strike out swinging on a low and away curveball. McPherson’s curve is looking great. Just froze Eric Fryer on a curve for strike two, then got him swinging on a high fastball for his third strikeout of the inning.
10:27 AM: Morton gets Ramon Cabrera to ground out to first, with Morton covering the bag. Walks Lambo. McGehee follows that with a bouncer up the middle past a diving d’Arnaud to put runners on first and second. Quincy Latimore followed with a broken bat double down the left field line, scoring Lambo from second. The inning ended due to Morton’s pitch count. Morton threw 17 pitches in the second, with ten for strikes. He finished throwing 28 pitches, 18 for strikes.
10:32 AM: Chase d’Arnaud starts off the second inning against McPherson with a single up the middle. Jordy Mercer pops out to shortstop in shallow center field. McPherson then gets Tony Sanchez to ground out on a routine 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.
10:33 AM: Rudy Owens is on to pitch in place of Morton.
10:43 AM: Owens breaks Matt Curry’s bat and gets him to fly out to right field for the first out. Jeremy Farrell hits an easy line out to first base on a nice curve by Owens. Owens gets the third out on a fly out to right field. In classic “B-Game” fashion, Owens is told to stay out for one more hitter. That’s what happens when you retire the side in order using less than ten pitches. Miles Durham makes him pay with a three-out home run off the roof of the batting cages in left. Owens is told to remain on the field for another batter. Brian Friday, who is the tenth batter in the lineup, doubled on a fly ball to the wall, which Starling Marte lost in the sun. That ends the inning for Owens.
10:45 AM: McGehee starts off the inning against McPherson with a triple to deep center field. The ball was hit over Latimore’s head, and McGehee took third after Latimore fumbled the ball trying to pick it up. Starling Marte singled McGehee home on a single off of McPherson’s curve. Marte stole second. Grossman lines a double to center field, scoring Marte. Jake Fox pops out to right field. Jeff Clement crushed one down the right field line, but it hooked foul. It was a low line drive, and probably would have only gone for a double, but still was crushed. Clement then crushes a double to center field, past a lunging Latimore. Let’s just say that Latimore isn’t a center fielder. Eric Fryer strikes out on a changeup. The inning ends when McPherson reaches his pitch count.
11:07 AM: Brock Holt starts off the inning with a triple off the wall in the left-center wall off of Owens. Owens walks Cunningham. McGehee hits a hard line drive single to Marte in single, bringing in Holt and putting runners at first and second. Ramon Cabrera hit a double off the wall in left-center, bringing in two runs. Owens is getting hit hard this inning. Andrew Lambo hits a sacrifice fly to center field. Owens reaches his pitch count. Gerrit Cole is coming on to pitch in place of McPherson.
11:17 AM: Cole gets d’Arnaud to ground out to short, breaking his bat in the process. He follows that by walking Mercer on four pitches. Mercer steals second on a 3-0 count, with Sanchez swinging for the strike. Cole walks Tony Sanchez on the next pitch, missing low and away. Another low and away miss draws a visit to the mound. Cabrera picks off Sanchez on first base for out number two. Cole then freezes Casey McGehee low and away for a strikeout to end the inning.
11:22 AM: Owens gets an 0-2 count when he hits the heel of Quincy Latimore’s bat on an inside pitch. Latimore hits a broken bat roller to short, which Mercer boots for an error. That’s about five bats broken in this game. Owens then freezes Matt Curry on a curveball for a strikeout. Casey McGehee pops out for the second out. Latimore steals second. Sanchez throws wild, going to the shortstop side of the bag. Owens gets Jeremy Farrell to fly out to end the inning.
11:28 AM: Cole gets two quick ground outs, then breaks another bat, this time against Jake Fox on a foul ball. Then another broken bat on another foul ball. This one completely split the bat in half. Fox battles, and Cole walks him. Cole then freezes Jeff Clement on a low fastball at the knees for strike three to end the inning.
My laptop died out there for the final half inning. Duke Welker came on and didn’t have too much trouble, ending the day with a strikeout looking. I got some pitch readings from a few scouts who were keeping track. Welker was throwing 92-93 MPH. McPherson was mostly sitting 92-93 MPH. Gerrit Cole was throwing 95-96. It’s still early in camp, and I don’t plan on bringing my radar gun until a few weeks from now.
