Monday: Bucs at Rays - Taillon v Jake Odorizzi, Lineup, Notes, Pirates Kiss Sister

Today: The Pirates visit the Rays at Charlotte Sports Park in Port Charlotte. The game starts at 1:05 and will be webcast (audio) by pirates.com.

Lineup (subs): Adam Frazier 2B, Jordy Mercer SS, Josh Bell 1B, David Freese 3B, Jose Osuna RF, Phil Gosselin LF, Austin Meadows CF, Stew C (Jackson Williams) & Jameson Taillon P. Today features one of the likely starting infield configurations for the 2017 Bucs.

Edgar Santana works today (photo Dave Arrigo/Pirates)

Pitchers: Jameson Taillon, Edgar Santana and Wade LeBlanc. The seasons around the corner and the arms are getting stretched some.

Yesterday's Game: Gerrit Cole went five IP (60 pitches), yielding one run, five hits, five K and a banging a two-run knock to help his cause. Alen Hanson helped him bigly by chopping down two runners at the plate (altho he misfired trying for the trifecta later in the game) from left as he continues to push hard for a spot. The Bucs blew an early led as Tony Watson was lit up and Daniel Hudson surrendered another marker. The Bucs battled back to take an 8-7 lead on a Michael Suchy dinger and Max Moroff knock after a shutdown frame from Jared Hughes.

Didn't last long as Antonio Bastardo was a wild child in the last frame and the Jays went up 11-8. Pittsburgh rallied to tie in the ninth, and that was the game as Toronto was plumb out of pitchers. Nice to see the Pirates hit, but the big innings against them were fueled by walks, sloppy fielding and a soft hit or two. Those are the things that need to be tightened up before the games count for real, and with the emphasis on jack-of-all-trades & master-of-none versatility and last year's control issues, that may be a formidable task in the next two weeks.

Alen Hanson had a big afternoon (photo Dave Arrigo/Pirates)

Notes:

• Jared Lakind, Casey Sadler & Angel Sanchez were assigned to minor league camp and Pat Light was optioned to Indy as the Bucs whittled down the pitching roster a bit.
• Gregory and Starling are due back in camp tomorrow. Marte's ankle sprain will be a big topic; it kept him out of half of the Dominican games. Ironically, he injured it against the Pirates when the DR played an exhibition at Bradenton before the WBC kicked off.