Monday Nite: Twinkies Visit Pirates; Nova v Phil Hughes, Lineup, Notes, Pirates Dropped 6-3

Today: The Twins meet the Pirates under the lights at 6:05 in Bradenton's LECOM Park. The game will be aired by Root Sports and 93.7 The Fan.

Lineup: Adam Frazier 2B, Josh Harrison 3B, Cutch RF, Starling Marte CF, David Freese 1B, Jordy Mercer SS, Alen Hanson LF, Jacob Stallings C and Ivan Nova P. The Bucs are still in shuffle mode a week before the season with Gregory, Fran, Stew and JHK on ice to go with some roster wrangling.

Tyler Webb has been flying under the radar (photo Dave Arrigo/Pirates)

Pitchers: Ivan Nova, Felipe Rivero, and Tyler Webb. Webb has shown up well for a Rule 5 grab but may be caught in a numbers game.

Yesterday's Game: Josh Lindblom did not have a good day, surrendering five runs on eight hits with a walk in just 1-2/3 IP. But the opposite was true for Wade LeBlanc, who went 3-1/3 zippo IP, giving up three hits w/two Ks and zero walks. AJ Shugel added a clean frame and Jared Hughes ran through some raindrops to put up another zero, but it wasn't enough to dig out of the hole as the Pirates fell 6-3 to the Phils. Jose Osuna had two RBI, Jordy chased home another run and Austin Meadows had a pair of hits for the Buccos. Pittsburgh was 0-for-2 stealing; they're 22-of-37 (59%) for the spring.

Notes:

• From Neal Huntington's Sunday radio show: Fran was scrubbed from yesterdays lineup because of his camp workload and a "little foot soreness" and is sitting again today. Holy MASH unit, catchers! Neal added that they "hope" Gregory Polanco, sidelined with a sore throwing shoulder, is ready for Opening Day. He also squelched speculation that the club would carry an extra bat early on, saying the fifth starter would also serve as a long man in April. NH noted that the 25-man roster wouldn't be finalized until the exhibition season ended as there are battles yet to be won.
• Chad Kuhl (100 pitch limit) and Antonio Bastardo (one inning or 15 pitches) tossed a minor league game today at Pirate City.

Baseball America probably got this one right.

• OF'er Austin Meadows has been reassigned to minor league camp; he should start the campaign at Indy. The 21-year-old slashed .326/.420/.558 during the spring and his big league days are right around the bend.
• Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com has a positive take on the Bucs minor league guys in the pipeline.
• ESPN has the Pirates in the middle of the 2017 pack, ranked 15th competitively with a projection of 83 wins.
• Sean Burnett opted out of his contract with the Phils and was released. Burnett, 34, hasn't tossed full-time since 2012, having undergone the TJ procedure twice since.