Thursday, March 28, 2013

Bucs End On Upbeat Note; Edge Yankees 2-1

Jeff Locke and Hiroki Kuroda did a pretty good job of defining a pitchers duel this afternoon. Both hurlers went six shutout frames, with Locke surrendering four hits and whiffing three while Kuroda was almost untouchable, yielding a knock and striking out five. Neither issued a walk and neither was ever really in trouble.

The Bucs did their damage in the seventh against Boone Logan. Travis Snider walked and JT lined a shot off Logan's hip to put runners on first and second with no one away. David Aardsma came on (Logan said he was in one piece and OK; we'll see how he feels tomorrow) and promptly tossed a wild pitch. Pinch-hitter Stephan Welch plated Snider and moved Tabata to third on a grounder to the right side.Jeff Larish singled him home, and that would be the sum of the Bucco attack. But it would hold up.

Mark Melancon worked a clean frame. Pittsburgh went down without much fuss in the eighth, and Justin Wilson took care of the New York side, giving up a walk and claiming a punch out. The Pirates had a chance to add on in the ninth, but left a couple of walks go to waste.

Minor leaguer Ethan Hollingsworth came on for the save. With one out, he served up a double and bopped a batter. A two-out double scored one and left Bronx Bombers on second and third, but Dan Johnson looked at a third strike to preserve the win for the good guys.

The Bucs finished the spring at 13-18, just about what they deserved considering that most of the camp was spent auditioning guys to fill in the fringes of the roster.

  • Baseball Prospectus gives the Bucs a 20% playoff chance in 2013.
  • Charlie Wilmoth of Bucs Dugout and today moonlighting for Yahoo Sports, has a post on the Bucs fantasy baseball values.
  • Mark Smith of Fangraphs compares the farm systems of the NL Central.
  • Gaby Sanchez is the only man left standing after the Miami deal during the 2012 deadline. The Marlins have informed Gorkys Hernandez that he will not be making their Opening Day roster. Brock Holt didn't make Boston's roster; he was optioned to Pawtucket

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