Saturday, February 25, 2017

Let's Play Two! Bucs Open Spring Season

The spring games start off with a split-squad twinbill. The home club will host the Baltimore Orioles while the road warriors will tackle the Tampa Bay Rays at Port Charlotte to kick off the Grapefruit League.

Pirates v Baltimore (1:05 @ LECOM Park, the former McKechnie Field):

Lineup (subs): Adam Frazier SS (Kevin Newman), Starling Marte CF, Andrew McCutchen RF, Gregory Polanco LF, David Freese 3B, Jason Rogers 1B, Alen Hanson 2B (Chris Bostick), Elias Diaz C (Jin-De Jhang) & Barrett Barnes DH.
Pitchers: Steven Brault, Trevor Williams, Tony Watson, Felipe Rivero, Antonio Bastardo, Daniel Hudson, Juan Nicasio, AJ Schugel & Pat Light.
Notes: The newly aligned outfield gets its first shakedown cruise - Clint tentatively has them scheduled to go the distance - and some A-List arms get loose today. While most are relievers, Brault and Williams are part of the battle for the fifth man in the rotation, along with Drew Hutchison and Tyler Glasnow. Also, top gun SS Kevin Newman will get in later in the match. The game will be webcast on pirates.com.

Steven Brault opens LECOM Park today (photo Dave Arrigo/Pirates)

Pirates @ Tampa Bay (1:05 PM @ Charlotte Sports Park)

Lineup (subs): Josh Harrison 2B (Erich Weiss), Jordy Mercer SS (Gift Ngoepe), John Jaso 1B, Joey Terdoslavich RF, Jose Osuna LF, Phil Gosselin 3B (Max Moroff), Austin Meadows CF (Danny Ortiz) & Jacob Stallings C (Jackson Williams).
Pitchers: Josh Lindblom, Dan Runzler, Jared Lakind, Cody Dickson, Tyler Eppler, Edgar Santana & Dovydas Neverauskas.
Notes: The Goose gets a look at third (John Jaso has been spending some camp time there, too), the highly touted Mr. Meadows gets a start and while the arms are depth guys and comers, watch for prospects Santana & Neverauskas.

Camp Notes:
  • Fran Cervelli and Josh Bell were held out of today's games but are doing drills at camp; Bell may be a week away from showtime while Fran is still day-to-day. 
  • The Pirates return the favor and visit Baltimore tomorrow at Sarasota. Jameson Taillon will start against Wade Miley.

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