Bucs Keep On With 7-5 Win Over Baltimore

Today's Game:

Mitch Keller started the afternoon, and Chasen Shreve, Wil Crowe, Roansy Contreras (part of the Jamo trade), Kyle Crick and Clay Holmes followed. Anthony Alford was in center, E-Gon at short and Fraze is at second again, so he's back to speed. In fact, it's pretty close to a starting lineup today.

Mitch put up a lot of twos today - innings, hits, walks, whiffs and runs - as he struggled with location. Chasen was smoked, getting hit hard and surrendering three runs. Crowe put the mojo on the Bird bats with a strong three-inning, one-hit stint and Contreras, Crick and Holmes kept the door shut in a 7-5 Bucco win.

Will Craig homered today - photo MLB Pipeline 2019

The Pirates offense nickeled and dimed the O's, scoring in five of their eight frames. Alford and Will Craig went long, with AA scoring and driving home a pair of runs. He was the only Pirate with multiple hits today.

Notes:

• CF Tony Alford homered, doubled and ran down a hooking drive to left center to put on a pretty nice show today in his quest to nail down a starting role.
• New middle infield combo unveiled today: (Erik) Gonzalez and (Nick) Gonzales. Now to find a Gonzo 1B for the Gonzalez-to-Gonzales-to-Gonzales DP...We also had the Fraziers (Adam & Todd) at first and second, so maybe the Pirates should be looking for a Fraze SS for that trifecta.
• Ticket news: The Bucs will begin ticket sales for the first 12 games, season ticket holders first. They plan to sell ducats on a roughly monthly basis to remain flexible as the Covid event restrictions may change during the summer.

Tomorrow's Game:

Chase De Jong answers the bell against Toronto. The Jays visit Bradenton for a 1:05 clash with the game aired on AT&T SportsNet.