Saturday, March 19, 2016

Saturday: Pirates Drop Slugfest; Twins Visit - Pitching, Lineup; Notes

Today: The Twinkies visit McKechnie Field, with the game on at 1:05. The game is radio only on 93.7 The Fan.

The pitching: Jon Niese will start against the Twins' Tommy Milone. Mark Melancon, Tony Watson, Neftali Feliz, and Eric O'Flaherty are slated for work after Niese.

The lineup: Jordy Mercer SS, Cutch CF, Josh Harrison 2B, Starling Marte LF, Michael Morse 1B, Sean Rodriguez 3B, Gregory Polanco RF, Stew C, Niese P. The reserves are Cole Figueroa, P-Flo, Jason Rogers, Danny Ortiz, Antoan Richardson, Ed Easley and others TBD.

Jordy gets his look at leadoff today (photo Dave Arrigo/Pirates)

Yesterday: Kyle Lobstein put up three goose eggs while Charlie Morton didn't have such a good day; he left with the score 5-0, tormented by Matt Joyce, who doubled and homered. Red hot P-Flo also went long. The Phils took their turn and put up nine runs in the fourth. It's probably safe to say that Wilfredo Boscan won't break camp with the big boys after he allowed seven hits and eight runs while getting one out. The next inning wasn't much better as Trey Haley, who had been lights out so far in camp, gave up six runs including a grand slam to Ryan Howard while retiring a pair. Pittsburgh tried to rally behind the scrubs but dropped a 15-12 decision. Minor league hitman Jose Osuna had a nice day with two hits, including a dinger. Here's yesterday's box score.

There was some good news from Pirate City. Though he was nicked for a run, Gerrit Cole went three frames, tossing 50 pitches (sitting mid-to-upper 90s) in a minor league game against the AAA Yankees. He expects to be be ready to go in the first week of the season. Jung Ho Kang batted (although he didn't take the field or run), going 1-for-4.

  • Austin Meadows had his orbital fracture surgery; the timetable for a return to baseball activities is 6-8 weeks.

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