The Pirates got thrashed yet again, this time by the Jays, 7-1. They’re now 4-12-3 on the spring, baseball’s worst record.
The hitters, as they so often are, were helpless, whiffing 15 times while managing just five hits and three walks. Connor Joe had three of the hits, including two doubles. Travis Swaggerty singled to drive in the only run in his lone at-bat, although he also got picked off base. He’s batting .400 and doesn’t have any real competition for an outfield spot, assuming merit is actually a criterion. Chris Owings had the remaining hit, a double.
The remainder of the job competitions continued to be more of a race to the bottom. Canaan Smith-Njigba and Rodolfo Castro each went 0-for-3. A few guys got in late and went 0-for-1. Jack Suwinski walked twice and, of course, struck out. He’s now fanned an alarming 13 times in 22 at-bats.
The pitching wasn’t very good, either. The emerging theme is that the Pirates have a lot of bullpen candidates with some talent, but nobody is standing out, so every day there’ll be a couple guys pitch well and a couple guys pitch poorly. A few days later it’ll be the same guys with opposite results.
J.T. Brubaker had another one of those starts that explains why his xFIPs have always been better than his ERA. In four and a third innings, he gave up four hits and a walk, which is pretty good, but it still led to four runs. He fanned five.
Carmen Mlodzinski relieved Brubaker and faced four hitters, retiring two. Angel Perdomo came in with a runner on and fanned the next three hitters, so it was his turn to look good today.
Yerry De Los Santos gave up two runs in his inning, on a hit, a walk and a hit batsman. His velocity was 92-94 mph, which is a bit better than earlier this spring but still below what it’s been in the past. He may be pitching his way back to AAA.
John O’Reilly came over from minor league camp and gave up a solo home run.
