Wednesday, March 24, 2010

At Least They Don't Count...Yet

Paul Maholm gave up three home runs in the Pirates' 6-4 loss to the Boston Red Sox this afternoon at McKechnie Field. The lefty yielded five runs and five hits over five innings.

He struck out seven and walked none, featuring a sharp slider, so it's one of those glass half-full days. Maholm was nasty when he hit his spots; but it was nasty when he missed.

D.J. Carrasco allowed one run on two hits in an inning of relief in the second day of back-to-back bullpen outings, his first two-fer of the campaign. Javier Lopez still has a 0.00 ERA, and is back in the saddle after the birth of his little girl. Brendan Donnelly added a scoreless frame, with two K's and a hit surrendered.

Pirates closer Octavio Dotel made his first Grapefruit League appearance of the season and pitched a scoreless ninth, walking one, beaning a batter and chucking a wild pitch. Whatever Kevin Hart has, he caught today; twelve of his twenty-two pitches missed the mark.

Josh Beckett allowed one run in five innings and struck out nine, giving up three hits, two walks, and a run. The guys behind him worked four innings and whiffed seven more. The score was closer than it looks; Fernando Cabrera gave up three runs in the ninth.

In toto, the Pirates struck out sixteen times and collected seven hits. Third base prospect Jeremy Farrell homed in the ninth, as did Delwyn Young, who hit a two-run shot. Thank you, Fernando, for providing just a little drama.

Aki Iwamura had two hits on the day, including a double, and scored the Bucs first tally.

The Pirates are 5-13-1 in spring ball and have lost nine of their last eleven games. We know it's Bradenton and all, but geez, it looks a lot like the team that did just enough to lose all those games last year. Brrrrrr!

-- Pittsburgh plays host to the Atlanta Braves tomorrow at McKechnie Field. Charlie Morton is scheduled to go six innings or 90 pitches, with Brian Bass and Evan Meek slated to finish the parade.

-- The Rangers just dealt for good-glove infielder Gregorio Petit; that almost certainly takes them out of the Ramon Vazquez derby.

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