Pirates, Rays Kiss Sisters & Call It A Day At 2-2

Mitch Keller has had a bumpy spring; some solid frames would do his confidence (and the Bucs) a world of good. Pittsburgh took the early lead when Colin Moran chased home Bryan Reynolds in the first followed by Mitch tossing a clean bottom half against the Rays. Tampa evened up in the second when a leadoff triple/wild pitch combo plated their first tally. Kell spun three innings; one run on three hits with five whiffs was his line, a step forward. Luis Escobar tossed a zippo in the fourth. Next, Sam Howard surrendered a run scored on a Tuck misthrow, but two walks and a bopped batter didn't help his cause. However, Guillermo Heredia did aid and assist Sam, throwing out Austin Meadows at home to close the frame. Nik Turley fanned a pair during his turn. The Buc bats...meh. It was 2-1 Tampa Bay after six.

Let's hope Bowman is right about Mitch (2019 Chrome series)

Once-upon-a-time Bucco Brooks Pounders and current Pirate Yacksel Rios exchanged zeroes in the seventh. The Pirates hitters and Miguel Del Pozo on the slab both kept the 0's coming both ways in the eighth. And yay, a run in the ninth. Jared Olivo singled and scampered home an out later on Charlie Tilson's double. Tilson then reached third but Oneil Cruz K'ed. Two walks jammed the sacks, and there they remained. Montana DuRapau made it hold up with a three up, three down, two strikeout ninth.

The Pirates threw the ball pretty well - two runs, four hits, three walks, and 13 K, but their hitting continues to be sluggish while the regulars are being eased in. They were 1-for-7 with RISP and stranded nine today. Tough to get much consistency - Pittsburgh as an organization is letting young, non-roster guys get into games, which is a good thing for development/evaluation, but a head count of 88 guys who have seen action so far is kinda unwieldy.

Let the sun shine on Willy tomorrow - photo Pittsburgh Pirates

Tomorrow: Seems like we've seen the Jays a lot lately, and tomorrow is yet another meeting, with a rematch scheduled for Thursday. The Monday LECOM Park game starts at 1:05 with Willy on the hill and will be on AT&T SportsNet & 93.7 The Fan. Both Toronto games are in Bradenton - the Jays have split squads for those two days and will be entertaining Tampa Bay and then the Canadian Junior National Team at Dunedin while visiting the Pirates.

Notes:

• Jason Mackey of the Post Gazette talked to Tyler Glasnow before the game; the takeaways he got from the youngster were that the Pirates were cookie-cutter in their attack approach and despite the management narrative didn't use advanced metrics.
• Bucco stats for the preseason are here. Of course, no one has batted much over two dozen times yet, but it is interesting to see which players are getting the lion's share of the early time.
• BTW, 25 days until Opening Day on April 2nd v the Reds and just 18 days until the Season Opener at Tampa Bay on March 26th.