Sunday, March 13, 2011

Buc Bats Boom

The way Red Sox starter Josh Beckett was mowing down the Bucs, it looked like another long day for the bats.

He tossed four strong frames; John Bowker's second-inning homer was just one of two hits garnered by the Pirates. Brad Lincoln matched goose eggs with him for the first two innings, but Mike Cameron's third-inning double brought home a pair.

A homer by Lars Anderson off Jeff Karstens in the fourth gave Boston a 3-1 lead.

But Beckett went a bridge too far in the fifth. Ronny Cedeno smacked a leadoff homer, and Beckett left the game with the bases juiced. A Neil Walker RBI single, two run double by Pedro and a two run single by Lyle Overbay put Pittsburgh up 7-3.

Darnell McDonald's blast in the sixth off Joel Hanrahan cut into the lead, but the score stayed the same until the eighth, when the Pirates put up a final two-spot. Gorkys Hernandez and Andrew Lambo did the damage with RBI singles. Chris Resop and Chris Leroux shut down Beantown over the final three frames as the Bucs cruised to a 9-4 win.

Pittsburgh had twelve hits, six for extra bases, and went a solid 6-for-15 RISP.

Pittsburgh will visit the Orioles Monday; the starters are scheduled to be Kevin Correia and Jake Arrieta.

-- Pedro Ciriaco got his first spring shot at the hot corner today, and made a couple of dandy plays while showing off a quite impressive arm. The question now is can he hit well enough...?

-- Today's attendance of 6,602 is the largest in the 42-year-history of McKechnie Field.

-- Scott Olsen and Joe Beimel will make their spring debuts Monday after recovering from nagging injuries.

-- Tough year so far for the Zachster. Duke will probably miss 6-8 weeks with broken left hand according to Arizona's GM.

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