Friday: Tampa Bay at Pittsburgh - Hutch v Matt Andriese, Lineup, Notes, Bucs Outlast Rays 10-8

Today: The Tampa Bay Rays visit the Pirates. The game begins at 1:05 at LECOM Park in Bradenton. The play-by-play will be carried on Root Sports and 93.7 The Fan.

Lineup (starters): Max Moroff 2B, Jordy Mercer SS, Josh Bell 1B, David Freese 3B, John Jaso RF, Chris Stewart C, Jose Osuna LF, Eury Perez CF and Drew Hutchison P. With five starters in the WBC, this is as close to a regular lineup as Clint can cobble together. It does give the Bucs time to see if JJ can include the OF on his resume and to give the red hot Osuna (.500) some more work there; he is a 1B/OF by trade.

Hutch on the hill (photo via Pittsburgh Pirates)

Pitchers: Drew Hutchison, Juan Nicasio, Tony Watson, Daniel Hudson, Dovydas Neverauskas & Edgar Santana. Hutch and the pen are on today's menu.

Yesterday's Game: It wasn't pretty, but the Bucs survived some sub-par hurling from Chad Kuhl and then Wade LeBlanc to take a 10-8 win over Tampa. The two clubs combined for 25 hits, seven walks, a HBP, four wild pitches and three errors in a loosey-goosey spring game. Jose Osuna homered and had two RBI; Phil Gosselin also chased home a pair. Adam Frazier and Elias Diaz joined Osuna in scoring twice. Osuna, Fraze, Diaz, Alan Hanson and Danny Ortiz each had a pair of knocks.

Notes:

• Starling Marte injured his ankle slightly (or so we're told) in the win against the Bucs on Wednesday thx to a gawky slide. The DR gave him the day off yesterday agaisnt Canada and he's supposed to be back in the lineup tomorrow v the US.

Starling has an achy ankle - 2015 Stadium Club

• Chris Strauss of Fox Sports posted his Pirates 2017 preview and forecasts the Bucs to finish third in the division.
• Michael Klopman of Sports on Earth picks Josh Bell as the NL Central's breakout player of 2017.
• The Pirates announced how they're dealing with ticket holders for the game that was moved to Williamsport on August 20th; primarily, it's by refund or ticket exchange.