Good evening from Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota, Fla. The Pirates will take on the Baltimore Orioles at 7:05 PM –their first of seven night games this spring (five in Florida and two in Philadelphia).
- Lefty Jo-Jo Reyes will get the start for the Pirates tonight and pitch two innings. Tonight marks Reyes Grapefruit League debut this spring. Reyes will be facing his former club tonight. He spent part of the 2011 season with the Orioles (also Toronto).
- Following Reyes in relief are Justin Wilson, Jared Hughes, Duke Welker, Bryan Morris, Mike Crotta and Tim Wood.
- The O’s will send lefty Brian Matusz to the mound. The Pirates have now faced a starting lefty (prior to tonights first pitch) twice, and will face a lefty in each of their next two games.
- Pirates lineup:
Alex Presley 7
Josh Harrison 6
Yamaico Navarro 4
Matt Hague DH
Pedro Alvarez 5
Gorkys Hernandez 8
Garrett Jones 3
Starling Marte 9
Michael McKenry 2
Jo-Jo Reyes LHP
* I talked to Josh Harrison earlier today while he was icing his left elbow in the clubhouse. He said he was fine, and he is still expected to play in the lineup tonight. Harrison was hit by a pitch in the elbow on Saturday.
- Pirates extras: Jeff Clement, Jordy Mercer, Tony Sanchez, Eric Fryer, Chase d’Arnaud, Anderson Hernandez, Ramon Cabrera
- Extra that joined the team from the minors: pitchers Ryan Beckman, Michael Dubee, infielder Brock Holt and outfielders Evan Chambers and Quincy Latimore.
- The Pirates will face the New York Yankees on Tuesday at 1:05 at McKechnie Field. Right-hander Kevin Correia will start for the Bucs against C.C. Sabathia.
- Following Correia in relief are: Daniel McCutchen, Doug Slaten, Chris Resop, Tony Watson, Chris Leroux, Ryota Igarashi and Juan Cruz.
- Right-hander Charlie Morton is scheduled to pitch at Pirate City on Wednesday at 10 AM in an intersquad game. Following Morton will be Kyle McPherson and Rudy Owens. The game is expected to be 4-6 innings and will include one team of Major Leaguers against some minor league camp guys.
- Tuesday’s lineup vs Yankees:
Jose Tabata 9
Clint Barmes 6
Andrew McCutchen 8
Casey McGehee 3
Neil Walekr 4
Rod Barajas 2
Yamaico Navarro DH
Nick Evans 5
Brandon Boggs 7
Correia RHP
- Extras: Jeff Clement, Nate McLouth, Jordy Mercer, Starling Marte, Eric Fryer, Jake Fox, Anderson Hernandez, Ramon Cabera, Robbie Grossman
- General Manager Neal Huntington met with media on Sunday for his weekly meeting. Here are a few quotes left over from stories:
- On Robbie Grossman’s first big league camp:
You hope he gains a sense of comfort, familiarity with your Major League staff. You hope he listens to the veterans and watches the veterans, how they go about their business and can learn from it. Basically just comfort and confidence. He’s going to see what he needs to do to take that next step. He’s going to see some things he does that will allow him to belong here when he gets here. It’s a great learning experience, learning opportunity.Huntington said he earned a big league camp invite from great 2011 season:
He sure did. In the past, we only brought guys to camp that had a legitimate shot to make the club, unless they were catchers. You always need catching. But this year we extended that a little bit, and Robbie was one of those guys who earned it. We expanded that a little bit with Gerrit Cole, some guys we wanted to give some opportunities to. We wanted to bring in some guys that had earned it, and Robbie certainly falls in that category.On the three pitches or less signs in clubhouse:
James [McDonald] has the stuff to be a guy that pitches deep into baseball games on a consistent basis. It’s pitch efficiency. And for him, jumping ahead and then burying guys early. Understanding that strikeouts happen with two strikes and not with no strikes. How much will it will impact him, and impact us if he’s able to pitch into the seventh inning, and the way to do that is to get quicker outs.
