Thursday: Pirates Visit Yankees, Yesterday's Recap, Notes

Game: The Pirates take the bus to Tampa and George Steinbrenner Stadium to battle the Yankees. The game begins at 1:05 and will be carried by MLB Gameday.

Lineup: Erik Gonzalez SS, Jung Ho Kang 3B, Corey Dickerson DH, Jose Osuna RF, Patrick Kivlehan LF, Will Craig 1B, JB Shuck CF, Steven Baron C, Alfredo Reyes 2B (Steven Brault P). Pablo Reyes, Ke’Bryan Hayes, Lolo Sanchez, Jason Martin and Bryan Reynolds, Christian Kelley and Rodolfo Castro. are the mid-game subs.

And batting leadoff...Erik Gonzalez (photo Pittsburgh Pirates)

Pitchers: LHP Steven Brault takes on LHP JA Happ (RHP Albert Abreu was originally penciled in). LHP Brandon Waddell along w/RHP's Elvis Escobar, Geoff Hartlieb and Alex McRae will fill in behind Brault.

Yesterday's Game: Pittsburgh drew first blood when Jason Martin smacked his second long ball of the spring in the opening frame. Starter Clay Holmes put up a lot of twos - two whiffs, two walks, two knocks - but no runs. He lasted just 1-1/3 IP, tho, after reaching 43 pitches.The Jays tallied in the third when Luis Escobar lost focus with two outs. With a runner of first, he balked and a single knotted the score. That was followed by a bopped batter before he finished up. Toronto went up in the fifth when Kyle Crick had his two-out lapse; after a pair of K's, a walk and double plated a Blue Bird. The Bucs were in mid-season form in the sixth. Bran Reynolds opened with a single, went to second on a wild pitch, and with no one out was thrown out at home after Lolo Sanchez's knock to left. It was the last  decent shot as the Pirates went quietly after that, with just a walk and a knock over the final three frames to drop their second in a row, 2-1, to Toronto.

The game wasn't as close as it looked; the Blue Jays went 1-for-12 w/RISP while Pittsburgh only moved four runners into scoring position. Each side K'ed nine times, so a lot of unproductive outs were made today. It was another six-hit effort by the Bucco batters, with Lolo going 2-for-2 and Martin homering. The weather didn't help either club as it was drizzly throughout the afternoon.

Notes:

• A few Buccos have been AWOL from the first week of play. The biggest concern is for C Elias Diaz, who is completely shut down due to a virus, according to director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk. They are treating the illness "week to week," he said, and it's possible that Diaz could begin the season on the injured list (the DL has become the IL). The others are 2B Adam Frazier and OF Corey Dickerson, who are taking part in the drills and camp work but being eased into game action. That's possibly because there's no competition for their spots but a logjam of backups to check out; Starling's in the same boat and only played one game this week. NRI 2B Nick Franklin is also waiting to play; that's not such good news for him with Kevin Kramer seeing lots of time at second.
• RJ Anderson of CBS Sports writes about the growing chasm between the Pirates and their fans because of the team's lack of spending, which the base considers a lack of interest in winning.