Monday, March 19, 2018

Bucs v Twins; Pirates Drop Double-Dipper; Notes

Today: Nick Kingham tangles with the Twins at LECOM Park at 1:05. Michael Feliz and Josh Smoker are booked to follow. The new iteration of the Three Amigos - Corey Dickerson, Starling Marte and Gregory Polanco - will also play together as a unit for the first time. The game will be on AT&T SportsNet with audio streamed by MLB.com.

Yesterday: Tyler Glasnow, Steven Brault and Mitch Keller looked good, but the Pirates sticks were quiet as the club was whupped twice in split-squad action.

Tyler stepped it up - Topps 2017 Rookie

Glasnow allowed Boston a run on five hits, two walks, and six Ks in 4-2/3 IP after 76 tosses, and two of those hits were of the soft serve variety. It was a well-pitched game on both sides, with the BoSox pulling out a 2-1 win. Keller made his spring debut by tossing two scoreless, one-hit frames with three K. Dovy Neverauskas and Kyle Crick put up zeroes; the winning run came on Andrew Bernintendi's solo shot off Brett McKinney's first pitch in relief of a gassed Tyler with two out in the fifth. The Bucs scattered eight hits, going 1-for-8 w/RISP.

Brault pitched four scoreless innings against the Blue Jays, with one hit, one walk and one whiff. It wasn't enough as the Bucs were dropped by the Jays 5-2. Richard Rodriguez and Jordan Milbrath followed with zippos, but Toronto got a pair off Johnny Stilson (a two-run shot by Justin Smoak) and three more off Casey Sadler in the last two frames to claim the W. Starling stayed hot with a solo homer while Kevin Kramer tripled and scored.

And Steven was sharp, too (photo Joe Guzy/Pirates)

Notes:
  • Boston had Brock Holt and Ivan DeJesus Jr in the lineup, reminders of the Hanny-Mark the Shark deal, while Toronto tossed AJ Happ at the Bucs (he gave up a run and K'ed five in four IP) and later brought in Gift Ngoepe, who went 2-for-2.
  • Ex-Pitt coach Kevin Stallings was at LECOM Park today to watch his son Jacob (1-for-4, two runners thrown out stealing) catch. Old Bucco announcer Tim Neverett was there too as a Boston radio booth guy, along with his son Matt, who will do the play-by-play for Bradenton.
  • Dustin Dopirak of Baseball America has a short post on the Pirates 2017 draft class; so far, so good.

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