Bucs Banged Again 6-3

Well, we gotta win one sometime, right? Mitch Keller took the hill to try to claim that first spring W for the club. It didn't work. Mitch left a pair aboard in the first and then gave up a wind-aided two-run dinger in the second. He departed with two away after 33 tosses (he hit his pitch count) in a pretty meh outing - three whiffs but a couple of hard rips in 1-2/3 IP. The Bucs pushed across a run in their half on a walk, single, boot and sac fly by JT Riddle. They tied it in the next frame on a B-Rey walk and Joey O chalk-kissing two-bagger. The Bosox regained the lead with a solo blast off Robbie Erlin in the fifth, and Pittsburgh tied it again in the sixth. With two away, Guillermo Heredia walked and Jason Martin ran for him. JM stole second and plated when Tuck dropped a single into left.

Tuck's had a nice week of camp.

Then seventh frame was once more a cursed inning for Pittsburgh (the Pirates have given up three runs three times so far in that frame). Sam Howard walked the first two batters, and a sac fly and third Boston homer later, it was 6-3.That's how it finished. The next three Pirates fanned; the next trio of Red Sox also went quietly before the rains fell and the teams called it a day, with the Bucs dropping to 0-5-1.

Tomorrow: Pittsburgh visits Baltimore at Sarasota's Ed Smith Stadium.The game starts at 1:05 and will be broadcast on 93.7 The Fan.

Notes:

• The Buccaneers had just four hits (they also drew four walks, but K'ed 11 times and went 1-for-7 w/RISP),with Joey O's two-bagger the only extra-base knock. Boston banged out 11 raps; three left the yard.
• Ric Rod, Nick Burdi (who hit 100), Dovy Neverauskas and James Marvel all pitched a scoreless frame, though none of the innings were clean except for Marvel's in a nice bounce-back from his opening outing. Blake Weiman and Montana DuRapau each faced a batter and retired him.

So far, so good for Gregory.

• Fraze, Bryan Reynolds, J-Bell and Gregory all started today. El Coffee was stationed in right; he DH'ed yesterday. And it's good news to see B-Rey back in the lineup; he exited limping on Monday after being clipped on the lower leg by a pitch. Gregory had a hit and tumbled the 2B with a take-out slide, so *knock on wood* looks like he's back physically.
• Billy Maz took out the scorecard today before the game. After the lineups were exchanged, seven members of the Pittsburgh Symphony performed the National Anthem.
• Gabe Lacques of USA Today  wrote about the Pittsburgh seachange in development & culture during the brief time the new kids have been in town.
• Steven Brault spent part of his offseason recording an album titled "A Pitch at Broadway," a collection of 12 Broadway hits, which goes on sale April 3rd. He's serious about his music career - Brault even landed a gig with the Pittsburgh Symphony as a vocalist during a "Pops" program before camp.