In the B Game, the Bucs eked out a 2-1 decision. Vance Worley went 3-2/3 scoreless frames (actually, just three; Ray Searage had him toss an extended third inning to get his pitch count up), Mark the Shark followed, and Clayton Richard went two innings, giving up a homer but whiffing four. Jose Tabata and Willy Garcia both banged out run-producing doubles to lead the attack.
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| Cl;ayton Richard on the rebound (photo: Rob Carr/Getty Images) |
Today's Game: The Pirates visit Tampa Bay at the Port Charlotte Sports Park. The game starts at 1:05, with audio available through MLB.com. Frankie Liriano (7-10, 3.38) faces
The Lineup: Pedro Florimon 3B, Starling Marte LF, Cutch CF, Neil Walker 2B, Jung-Ho Kang SS, Andrew Lambo 1B, Sean Rodriguez RF, Tony Sanchez C, Justin Sellers 2B, Francisco Liriano P.
The Bench: Stetson Allie, Gustav Nunez, Deibinson Romero, Jaff Decker, Keon Braxton, Willy Garcia, Wilkins Castillo, Gift Ngoepe, Mel Rojas Jr., Steve Lombardozzi, Elias Diaz, Brent Morel, Sebastian Valle, Jose Tabata.
The Pitchers: Tony Watson, Antonio Bastardo, Rob Scahill, Jared Hughes, Blake Wood, Collin Balester.
Cutch gets another start while Stetson Allie is slated to replace Lambo mid-game; it'll be fun to see him take a hack or two. Also worth noting is that Kang is batting cleanup; we're sure that's where the Pirates envision him in the lineup eventually.
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- Josh Harrison & Corey Hart returned to action yesterday. Both were hitless but otherwise pain free during the games.
- Gerrit Cole got to bat yesterday, and missed a homer by a couple of feet, banging one off the wall for a double. Guess we were wrong about the Pirate pitchers hitting; Clint is serious about getting his hurlers more involved in the offense.
- Ryan Spaeder of TSN selects his five most likely regression suspects, and no, Josh Harrison isn't on the list. But Eddie Volquez is...
- Theo Epstein has brought his brand of evaluation to the Cubs, reports Rick Telander of the Chicago Sun Times. He's even bringing in a Spanish tutor, but not for the field staff - it's for the front office guys, so they can communicate better with the Latino players throughout the organization. Hey Neal: Hablas español?
You're not wrong about the Pirate pitchers and their ahem, "hitting". They're terrible, and they've been terrible for many years now. A very sad contrast with this team as it was historically; for a long time the Pirates almost always had at least a couple of guys who were very good hitters and who could even come off the bench for you: Don Robinson, Rick Rhoden, Ken Brett, Jim Rooker, Vern Law, and others could all swing the bat. Being the National League purist that I am, I am always on the lookout for pitchers who add value with the bat. And yes, SABRheads, it DOES make a difference in the National League!
ReplyDeleteIf you check the stats, you'll see that Garrit Cole is about the only current Pirates starting pitcher who can do anything at all with the stick; he's at just under .200 for his career to this point. Even for a pitcher that's not great, but the rest of them are just about totally useless. Burnett has launched a handful on the rare occasions when he runs into one, but that's about it.
That's certainly been noted by Clint Hurdle, lol. We'll see - an emphasis in camp won't mean much in June, I'm afraid.
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