Good morning from McKechnie Field. The Pirates will face the New York Yankees today at 1:05 PM.
- Right-hander Kevin Correia will start for the Pirates and face lefty C.C. Sabathia. Correia, 31, is making his first spring training start this afternoon. He pitched a scoreless inning Friday in the Bucs intrasquad game at McKechnie.
- Following Correia in relief: Daniel McCutchen, Doug Slaten, Tony Watson, Chris Leroux, Ryota Igarashi and Juan Cruz.
- Pirates starting lineup:
Jose Tabata 9
Clint Barmes 6
Andrew McCutchen 8
Casey McGehee 3
Neil Walker 4
Rod Barajas 2
Yamaico Navarro DH
Nick Evans 5
Brandon Boggs 7
Kevin Correia RHP
- Yankees lineup:
Derek Jeter 6
Robinson Cano 4
Alex Rodriguez 5
Mark Teixeira 3
Andruw Jones DH
Francisco Cervelli 2
Chris Dickerson 7
Dewayne Wise 8
Justin Maxwell 9
- Following Sabathia in relief: Mike O’Conner, Phil Hughes, Brett Marshall, Graham Stoneburner.
- Right-hander Charlie Morton will pitch in an intrasquad scrimmage at Pirate City on Wednesday. Following Morton in relief are: Rudy Owens, Kyle McPherson, Gerrit Cole and Duke Welker. The scrimmage is scheduled for 5-6 innings and will start at 10 AM.
- The Pirates will play the Toronto Blue Jays at McKechnie field tomorrow at 1:05. Right-hander Jeff Karstens will start for the Bucs against righty Kyle Drabek.
- This Saturday’s game against the Twins at McKechnie Field will be televised on Root Sports. It will be the first of four games scheduled to be televised by Root this spring. Also March 21 vs. Boston, March 24 vs. Houston and March 26 vs. Baltimore.
- The Pirates beat the Baltimore Orioles 10-3 last night in Sarasota. The bats were hot, combining for 18 hits. Here are a few left over quotes from skipper Clint Hurdle.
Hurdle on bunting being a lost art:
It has been. I’ve played on teams a while ago that, in two different situations in Kansas City and St. Louis, it was a play. A number of guys had it in their bag. It’s something that we revisited after the season, talking to guys on their way out. Just having that conversation and the importance of being able to do it. Even when you show it, you keep people on the corners. You can beat them with a ground ball left or right before two strikes. The fact that just knowing and showing it opens up defensive lanes, being able to get it down. There’s so many good things that can happen. Sometimes you’re going for the bunt hit and you advance the runners. Worst case scenario you move a runner up 90 feet. It’s something we have emphasized. They put a lot of work into it. We plan on seeing who can, and who needs to work on it this spring.
Hurdle on if Pedro Alvarez looks uncomfortable at the plate:
I wouldn’t say he’s uncomfortable. I’d say he’s still looking for some timing off the livving pitching. We’ve got a few guys in that category, but you just keep running them out there and give them at-bats. We’re confident it will come.
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