Jeff Locke had some early jitters in the first, giving up a three spot highlighted by Mike Napoli drilling a liner off Locke's tootsie to drive in the first run, Shane Victorino doubling home one more and a wild pitch to bring home another. Two of the runners that scored were aboard on walks. But he dug in after that, putting up three scoreless frames and giving up just one more hit. In the meantime, Pittsburgh wasn't able to solve Jon Lester, who went three shutout innings, surrendering a walk.
Phil Irwin came on in the fifth and Boston got on the board again on an infield knock, a walk and passed ball followed by a Dusty Pedroia two-run knock. The Buc bats continued to flounder, as prospect Rubby De La Rosa shut them down.
The Pirates got on the board in the eighth when Mauro Gomez started the frame by walking Anderson Hernandez and Tony Sanchez. After an out, Jerry Sands singled to load the sacks and Jeff Larish rolled one up the middle to plate a pair. A Jeremy Farrell walk loaded the sacks, but the inning died when Oscar Tejeda lined a shot up the middle at reliever Alex Wilson, who snagged the ball, not only saving a run or two but doubling Farrell off first.
Brooks Brown, Stolmy Pimentel and Hunter Strickland each tossed a goose egg to keep the Bucs hanging around. The Pirates had runners on first and third with one away in the ninth thanks to an Andrew Lambo double and Hernandez single to left, but Sanchez bounced one to short for the game-ending 6-4-3 DP.
An ugly loss, to be sure, but hey - the season is still a month (and 37 cuts) away.
- Felix Pie stayed hot. He doubled and threw out Jacoby Ellsbury trying to stretch a single into a double.
- The Pirates are 2-5 in Grapefruit League action; they've dropped five in a row since a 2-0 start.
No comments:
Post a Comment