Thursday: The O's Come to Town; Lineup & Pitchers; Yesterday's Game; Notes

Game: The Orioles come to LECOM Park for a 1:05 match. The game will be on AT&T SportsNet on the TV side and 93.7 The Fan on the radio side.

Lineup: Adam Frazier 2B, Starling Marte CF, Corey Dickerson DH, Josh Bell 1B, Fran Cervelli C, Melky Cabrera LF, Lonnie Chisenhall RF, Erik Gonzalez SS, Ke’Bryan Hayes 3B (Jordan Lyles P). Some of the big boys get to play today; it's nice to see Lonnie back in action and Cervy actually catching.

Pitchers: RHP Jordan Lyles bumps heads with RHP Mike Wright. LHP Frankie Liriano will follow Lyles, with RHP Nick Burdi, RHP Alex McRae, and LHP Brandon Waddell behind him.

Jordan will try to match Nick's outing (photo Dave Arrigo/Pirates)

Yesterday's Game: The Bucs parlayed a walk, three singles, a stolen base and productive out to get a quick 2-0 first-inning jump on Boston. A couple of walks, a couple of pop singles even with some ooops baserunning resulted in another run in the third. Nick Kingham went nine up, nine down before the BoSox opened the fourth with back-to-back raps. A quick 6-4-3 DP and fly ended the uprising; the King did well against a regular-season Boston lineup. The Red Sox got on the board in the fifth against Kyle Crick; he escaped a bopped batter and two walks with just a run thanks to a timely DP ball. A walk again bit Boston when Alfredo Reye's two-out knock got the run back, scoring Arden Pabst. Pittsburgh created some breathing room in the eighth with a RBI double by Ke'Bryan Hayes and a Will Craig sac fly, making the final count 6-1.

It was nice to see Nick Kingham tossing strong (4 IP, 0 runs, two hits, three K's, no walks) with the five guys following Crick winging hitless ball for 4-1/3 frames, the Kevin's teaming up for a couple of nice DPs, and the Pirates being patient and effective at the dish. Of course, they left 14 runners aboard and lost a couple of guys on the basepaths via the TOOTBLAN route (pop-fly DP, pick-off), so there's that. But all in all, it was a good day against a good club.

Notes:

• 1B Steve Pearce, LHP Dan Runzler and RHP Colten Brewer played against their old organization.
• A couple of AWOL's explained: RHP Brandon Maurer has a knee issue and has been shut down for the past 10 days; he'll need to do some rehab when cleared. IF Nick Franklin has hammy tightness; he hasn't played all spring, and while doing "baseball activities," he isn't ready for game action yet.
• Cole Tucker is both a good clubhouse dude and a player who expects to succeed, per Kevin Gorman of the Trib. 
• Kevin Creagh of The Point of Pittsburgh points out the lack of impact players drafted during the Neal Huntington era.
• Like to hang out w/a few thousand folk who share an interest? Here's the list of Pirates theme nights at PNC Park, from Pup Nights to Pride Night, College & Cornhole Nights, Beer Passport Nights, Youth & Education Nights and all the rest...
• Katherine Acquavella of CBS Sports graded the MLB teams off seasons; the Bucs got an F.
• MLB and MLBPA are close to a handshake on 26-man rosters, with the concession that September rosters be limited to 28 players, and some other items on the table for next year's CBA, per the AP. 
• Ted Berg of USA Today has a piece on camp compensation. There is none, except for per diem money - $95/day at MLB camp, $25/day in the minor league camp. This gig economy...sheesh!