Notes: Day Off; Braves Hold Off Bucs; Camp/Pitching Stuff

Today: After 11 straight Grapefruit League matches, today is a day of rest. The Pirates play the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday.

S-Rod has three long balls - Topps 2017

Yesterday: The Pirates loaded the bases with two gone in the ninth but came up short in a 7-5 loss to the Bravos. Pittsburgh hit four homers (Starling Marte, S-Rod, Max Moroff and Jordan Luplow) but in keeping with past practice, they were all solo shots. Meanwhile, Chad Kuhl (2-1/3 IP; five hits, two walks) & Trevor Williams (three IP; four hits, three of which were 2Bs, & a free pass) both gave up three runs while Dovydas Neverauskas served up a gopher ball, keeping the Bucs in a deep, afternoon-long hole. Felipe Rivero put up a zero and Tyler Jones got his two batters.

Notes:

• The Pirates had seven hits with hot-as-a-jalapeno Marte (.538) collecting a pair of knocks; he also swiped his fourth bag of the spring. Moroff was one-for-two with a walk, two runs scored and an RBI.
• Pittsburgh has a dozen guys hitting .300> among players with four or more game appearances. Austin Meadows leads the gang at .600 with Starling hitting .538 and Kevin Kramer .444. Of course, no one has more than 17 ABs, so we wouldn't be doing any projections based on performance quite yet.
• Joe Musgrove tossed BP and will now throw in a couple of minor league camp outings; he expects to be back in action by the 15th.
• Tom Dorsa of Baseball Essentials has his list of MLB's top 15 relievers. Felipe Rivero is in the middle of the elite pack at #8.
• @JohnDreker reports that the Bradenton Marauders new announcer will be Matt Neverett, son of the former Pirates broadcaster Tim.  
• Kelsie Heneghan of MiLB.com rates the farm systems by pitching; the Pirates land at #13.