The Pittsburgh Pirates lost both games of a split squad doubleheader against the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday afternoon. The home game in Bradenton was an ugly 11-0 loss. Trevor Williams started and gave up four runs (three earned) over three innings. It was his first start of the spring. Mitch Keller allowed four runs over his two innings of work and has now allowed ten runs through his first four innings. Dovydas Neverauskas tossed a scoreless ninth, picking up three strikeouts. The offense was limited to three singles.
In Dunedin, the offense wasn’t much better, picking up just five hits in the 5-2 loss. Oneil Cruz hit his first homer of the spring. Doubles by Dylan Busby and Jared Oliva scored the other run. Rookie Davis started and gave up four runs over two innings. Michael Feliz allowed the other run. JT Brubaker threw two shutout innings, while Luis Escobar and Eduardo Vera each tossed a scoreless frame.
Saturday’s Action
The Pirates take on the Minnesota Twins at home this afternoon. The game will be shown live on AT&T SportsNet, and MLB Network will have a replay tomorrow morning. Here’s the lineup for today:
- Adam Frazier 2B
- Patrick Kivlehan LF
- Corey Dickerson DH
- Lonnie Chisenhall RF
- Colin Moran 3B
- Jose Osuna 1B
- Kevin Newman SS
- JB Shuck CF
- Christian Kelley C
For prospect watchers, the late innings replacements are quite a group of players. They will be (in order, same positions as above, minus the DH spot) Kevin Kramer, Calvin Mitchell, Bryan Reynolds, Ke’Bryan Hayes, Will Craig, Pablo Reyes, Jason Martin and Arden Pabst. That group includes seven of the top 12 position player prospects in the system (eight if you include Newman starting the game). The bench also includes Gabriel Brito, Grant Koch, Adrian Valerio, Chris Sharpe and Hunter Owen.
Clay Holmes gets the start today. He will be followed by Felipe Vazquez, Keone Kela, Richard Rodriguez and Tyler Lyons.
Joe Musgrove will pitch a simulated game today at Pirate City. The Pirates announced that he will make his spring debut on March 15th.
The Pirates made their first eight cuts of spring this morning.
UPDATE: Musgrove is done for the day
Joe Musgrove threw 3.0 innings and 53 pitches in a sim game today at Pirates City. pic.twitter.com/t7gXiqBkZP
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) March 9, 2019
Sunday’s Action
The Pirates will take on the New York Yankees in Tampa tomorrow at 1 PM. The Yankees will have a split squad, though the better players would still be playing at home, so it should still be a strong lineup. Chris Archer will make his second start of the spring, and he will be followed by Jesus Liranzo, Nick Burdi, Geoff Hartlieb and Alex McRae.
