Friday: Two Against Toronto, Lineup & Pitchers; Yesterday's Recap & Notes

Game: Split-squad, home and away action against the Toronto Blue Jays today with contests in both Bradenton and Dunedin. The LECOM Park game will be on AT&T SportsNet and MLB Gameday at 1:05; the road warriors begin at 1:07, and will be carried just by MLB Gameday.

Lineups: Home - Starling Marte CF, Jung Ho Kang 3B, Fran Cervelli 1B, Jose Osuna RF, Pat Kivlehan RF, Kevin Newman SS, Jake Stallings C, Alfredo Reyes 2B, Trevor Williams P. Cervy is back at first and as promised, the Pirates are batting their pitchers at home rather than using a DH as the season approaches. Will Craig and JB Shuck are part of the second wave.
Away - Pablo Reyes CF, Melky Cabrera DH, Colin Moran 3B, Josh Bell 1B, Kevin Kramer 2B, Erik Gonzalez SS, Jason Martin LF, Bryan Reynolds RF, Steve Baron C (Rookie Davis P).

Willy gets the ball today (image - Pittsburgh Pirates)

Pitchers: Home - Trevor Williams goes against Sean Reid. Mitch Keller, Aaron Slegers, and Dovydas Neverauskas follow. It's Willy's first start of the spring.
Away - Rookie Davis gets the call against Marcus Stroman. Slated to come afterward are JT Brubaker, Michael Feliz, Luis Escobar and Eduardo Vera.
Interesting group of pitchers on the hill today - Davis, Brubaker, Keller and Slegers, all trying to elbow their way into the fifth man convo.

Yesterday's Game: Jordan Lyles tossed better today, going four innings and giving up two runs (one earned) on three hits, a walk and a wild pitch. Geoff Hartlieb relieved in the fifth and gave up a solo homer (it would be the day's theme) to make it 3-0. The Bucs chopped the lead to a run after Erik Gonzalez and Fraze went deep in the Pirates half of the frame, then took a seventh-inning lead after long balls by Pat Kivlehan, who's surely making his way onto the radar, and Cole Tucker. The Bitds quickly tied with a double and single off Nick Burdi. He walked the next guy and then got it into gear, striking out the next three Orioles. That tied it and set up Tucker, who led off the ninth, worked the count to 2-0 and then dropped another ball into the stands to walk off a 5-4 Pirates win.

The Pirates pitchers showed some swing-and-miss stuff, totaling 13 K over the day; the five Pittsburgh hurlers all did their share, with two/three punch outs per man. Frankie Liriano had the most effective outing of the game, giving up a walk with two whiffs over two innings. The handful of lost balls gave the Pirates 21 homers in 13 games, and that's a nice trend so far; the Steel City Bombers had just 157 in 161 games in 2018.

Cole was swingin' it yesterday (photo MLB Pipeline/Pirates)

Notes:

• Nice plays: with runners on first and third, the O's tried a delayed steal of home. It didn't fool Fraze, who took Cervy's throw and sent it right back (albeit a bit high) to cut down the runner. And in the seventh, Pat Kivlehan and Cole Tucker homered back-to-back to turn a one-run deficit into a one-run lead.
• The Rays plan on a three-man rotation, with two of their starters being ex-Buccos Tyler Glasnow and Charlie Morton, to follow Blake Snell. The other two spots will be reserved for "openers" rather than a regular, per Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors.
• Stuff u hate to hear: Tom Seaver's family announced that he has been diagnosed with dementia, and will retire from public life to remain at his California home. 
• Due to the Supreme Court ruling expanding sports gambling, teams now have to send their starting lineup to the MLB offices before they can post them publicly, per AP.