The Pittsburgh Pirates moved to 3-2 in Spring Training with a 2-1 loss at home against the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday afternoon. Jason Martin brought home the only run with his second homer of the spring. He was replaced mid-game by Lolo Sanchez, who ended up going 2-for-2 with two singles. Will Craig also reached base twice off the bench, drawing two walks.
Clay Holmes started and had an eventful 1.1 shutout innings, with two hits, two walks and two strikeouts. Luis Escobar and Kyle Crick each allowed a run, though Crick picked up three strikeouts in his lone inning. Francisco Liriano tossed a shutout inning in his second appearance this spring. Aaron Slegers had two scoreless frames.
Thursday’s Action
The Pirates travel to Tampa today to take on the New York Yankees, who will send JA Happ to the mound. Corey Dickerson is making his first start of the spring. Adam Frazier and Nick Franklin still haven’t played a game, and won’t again today, but both have been seeing daily at-bats and workouts at Pirate City. Here’s the lineup for today:
- Erik Gonzalez SS
- Jung Ho Kang 3B
- Corey Dickerson DH
- Jose Osuna RF
- Patrick Kivlehan LF
- Will Craig 1B
- JB Shuck CF
- Steven Baron C
- Alfredo Reyes 2B
Around the sixth inning when the reserves come in, the Pirates lineup from 1-9 will be Pablo Reyes, Ke’Bryan Hayes, DH spot, Lolo Sanchez, Jason Martin, Jerrick Suiter, Bryan Reynolds, Christian Kelley and Rodolfo Castro. They will be at the same positions as the players they are replacing in the lineup. The bench also includes Oneil Cruz, Logan Hill, Arden Pabst, Jason Delay and Erich Weiss, who is with the team for the first time this spring.
Steven Brault makes his second start today. He will be followed by Brandon Waddell, Elvis Escobar, Geoff Hartlieb and Alex McRae. The Pirates also brought along Matt Eckelman, Jordan Jess, Scooter Hightower and Yeudy Garcia as bullpen options.
Chris Archer threw two sim innings today at Pirate City
Chris Archer talks with Ray Searage after throwing 2.0 innings/38 pitches in a sim game on the back field today at LECOM.#LetsGoBucs pic.twitter.com/t3WFWoYzvH
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) February 28, 2019
Friday’s Action
The Pirates will have their first of three split-squad days on Friday, and both games will be on the road. A large majority of split-squad days include a home and away game, so it’s slightly unusual. One group will be going to Dunedin to face the Blue Jays, while another will be headed to Clearwater to face the Philadelphia Phillies. Rookie Davis will make his first start tomorrow, while other pitchers scheduled to go include Nick Kingham, Eduardo Vera, Jesus Liranzo, Tyler Lyons, JT Brubaker, Blake Weiman and Dario Agrazal.
