Monday, March 13, 2017

Monday: Pirates at Atlanta, Glasnow v Bartolo Colon, Lineup, Notes (First Cuts), Bucs Edge Twins 4-3

Today: The Pirates don their road unis and head to Kissimmee's Champion Stadium to take on the Bravos. The game's opening pitch is at 1:05 and the contest will be aired on 93.7 The Fan.

Lineup (starters): Adam Frazier CF, Phil Gosselin SS, Austin Meadows LF, Josh Bell 1B, Elias Diaz C, Joey Terdoslavich RF, Alen Hanson 3B, Gift Ngoepe 2B & Tyler Glasnow P. Clint's taking advantage of the WBC to get long looks at his bench auditioners from every angle; all the remaining regulars have the day off.

Tyler ISO his command today (photo Dave Arrigo/Pirates)

Pitchers: Tyler Glasnow, Wade LeBlanc, AJ Schugel, Dan Runzler, Pat Light & Dovydas Neverauskas. Tyler has been a wild child in camp and has to find some consistency in his command. Wade and AJ need to straighten up and fly right soon; both have had rough springs so far.

Yesterday's Game: Trevor Williams had another meh start as the Bucs fell behind 2-0. A third-inning double by Jordy Mercer halved the lead, then Stew provided the key blow later in the frame when he kissed the LF chalk for a two-out, full-count double with the bases filled with Buccos, chasing the gang home. All four runs were charged against former Pirate Ryan Vogelsong. The pitching took over the remainder of the match with Steve Brault putting up three zeroes and scoreless frames served up by Felipe Rivero & Casey Sadler. Ty Webb gave up a ninth-inning run to make it interesting as the Pirates claimed a 4-3 win over the Twins. Another former Buc, Matt Hague, led both clubs with three doubles.

Notes:
  • Pitchers Nick Kingham, Clay Holmes, Cody Dickson & Tyler Eppler, SS Kevin Newman and C Jin-De Jhang were sent to minor league camp. Kingham & Holmes showed up well, but with three weeks until the season opens, starting outings will get stretched out and the Bucs are still competing for a fifth starter. Newman was caught in the battle for a bench spot, leaving him little opportunity to take the field. Nick and Clay were assigned to Indy; the others haven't been sorted out yet. The spring roster now sits at 56 players.
Nick has bounced back nicely from TJ surgery to reclaim a spot on the Buc radar (photo Dave Arrigo/Pirates)
  • Congrats to C Jacob Stallings. He and his wife Amy have a new son (Emmitt Campbell) as of last night.
  • The Dominican Republic (Marte & Stallings) and the USA (Cutch and J-Hay) advanced in the WBC. Italy is winner-moves-on game tonight that will determine Fran Cervelli's return. Israel moved into round two with Jared Lakind and Canada was eliminated, so Eric Wood will be back at camp.
  • Knock on wood that it carries over: the Bucs are 12-4 in Grapefruit League play.

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