Sunday - Bucs/O's: Taillon v Wade Miley After Saturday Sweep

Today: The Pirates visit the Orioles. Gametime is 1:05 at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota. The contest will be carried by 93.7 The Fan.

Lineup (subs): Phil Gosselin 2B (Max Moroff), Kevin Newman DH, Andrew McCutchen RF (Eury Perez), Jason Rogers 3B (Erich Weiss), Elias Diaz C (Christian Kelley), Jose Osuna 1B, Eric Wood LF (Joey Terdoslavich), Austin Meadows CF (Danny Ortiz) & Alen Hanson (Gift Ngoepe). Andrew and some bench depth take the field today. Only Newman is penciled in for all nine frames (Osuna's sub at first is TBD), and that's as the DH. Gosselin and Hansen will battle for the fifth spot on the bench, so expect to see them get lots of early playing time at a variety of infield spots while the staff evaluates them. Both have primarily been 2B so competent versatility will loom large.

JT toes the rubber today (2016 Topps Heritage).

Pitchers: Jameson Taillon, Tyler Glasnow, Drew Hutchison, Jared Hughes and Tyler Webb are slated for the hill. Tyler and Hutch begin to make their cases to break camp with the club. Hutch is working on eliminating a twist in his motion, so we'll see if Uncle Ray's tinkering under the hood pay off. Webb also needs to hit the ground running; as a Rule 5 pick, he has to earn a roster spot or be offered back to the Yankees.

Yesterday's Results: The Bucs took their Grapefruit League home opener by a 6-2 count over the O's behind long balls from Chris Bostick & Jin-De Jhang. El Coffee went 3-for-3 with two RBI and two SBs. The Pirates also whipped Toronto 7-2 so all is well on day one. Joey Terdoslavich and Phil Gosselin each had a pair of RBI while Jacob Stallings went deep.

Game/Camp Notes:

• Adam Frazier was scratched from the lineup with a sore thumb and David Freese was a healthy scratch (manager's decision) from the original card.
• Cutch's first outing in right went smoothly. He noted post-game that it will be a learning experience picking up the ball, backing the bases differently and avoiding the railing while chasing fouls.

Andrew adjusting to a new spot - 2014 Topps Spring Fever

• Gerrit Cole will miss the first turn around the track - he'll toss a sim game (2 IP) today. No worries, tho - skipper Hurdle named him the Opening Day starter on April 3rd against the Bosox at Fenway yesterday.
• Clint added that Jameson Taillon will start the the second game and Ivan Nova will get the home opener April 7th against Atlanta. The other spots will be determined as camp goes on and the players battle for the back end roles. Chad Kuhl holds the early edge for one of those two open positions as the #4 man based on last year's work.