The Pirates traveled to Tampa for a night game against the Yankees and, as in the last game between the two teams, appeared to be far out of their depth. The Yankees amassed 15 hits and eight walks, and battered the Pirates, 9-2.
The various Pirates ostensibly fighting for jobs mostly had bad days. To begin with, starter Luis Ortiz made a strong case for a trip to Indianapolis. He faced ten batters, giving up seven hits and a walk. The only reason he recorded three outs was that Miguel Andujar threw out a runner at second. Ortiz departed in the second inning with two on and nobody out. Colin Selby relieved and immediately gave up a bomb to Aaron Judge, leaving Ortiz with five runs on his ledger.
The other young pitcher vying for a starting spot didn’t help himself, either. Johan Oviedo showed the same aversion to the strike zone that led the Cardinals to move him to the bullpen. He walked four over two and a third innings, but managed to allow only one run.
Nobody pitched especially well until the Yankees put in subs for everybody. Wil Crowe and Yohan Ramirez each had some trouble, although they each gave up just an unearned run. Both of those scored on an error by Ji-Man Choi.
Nate Webb and Jared Jones got the last two innings. Like all the other pitchers except Ramirez, they had trouble throwing strikes, but they each walked only one, and Jones gave up one hit. They both struck out two.
The hitting was Haines-level futile. The Pirates had four hits and a walk. On the spring they’re 30th by wide margins in BA and OBP, and 29th in walks.
The job competitions continued to see little actual competition. Tucupita Marcano, starting at second, Connor Joe, Chris Owings and Kevin Plawecki all went hitless. The only starters with hits were Travis Swaggerty and Andujar, who were each 1-for-2, Andujar with a double. Swaggerty’s hitting .300 on the spring in limited action.
The other two hits came from Cal Mitchell, who doubled and scored the first run, and Chavez Young, who homered in the ninth.
