Correia, Beimel Roughed Up As Pirates Lose To Orioles Again

By Zane Heiple

Photo Credit: AP/AP

The Pirates traveled to Sarasota, Florida today to take on the Baltimore Orioles.  Scott Olsen, who was signed during the offseason to be apart of the pitching rotation, but has been injured throughout the spring, made his debut in a Pittsburgh uniform this afternoon. 

This was the third time these two teams met this spring, with the Orioles winning the previous two contests.  Kevin Correia made the start for the Buccos, while Jake Arrieta took to the mound for the O’s.

Pittsburgh scored first in the second inning on Jason Jaramillo’s double, scoring Steve Pearce.  The Bucs took a 2-0 lead in the fourth as Pearce smashed a ground rule double and then scored on Josh Rodriguez’s single to centerfield. 

Things were looking good for Correia until the fourth frame when the Orioles tallied three runs on him.  He finished his afternoon having thrown five innings, allowing four runs on seven hits, allowing one home run and striking out one batter.  Evan Meek came in for the sixth inning and allowed one hit, while striking out a batter.

The game went from bad to worse for the Pirates in the seventh inning when Baltimore scored three more runs to take a 7-2 lead.  All three of these runs would come off of Pittsburgh pitcher Joe Beimel.  The O’s would score one more run in the eighth to make it a 8-2 final.  Olsen was on the mound when the final run was scored.  He pitched one inning, giving up one run on two hits, with one hit being a homerun.

Both teams brought the lumber today as they each accumulated fourteen hits.  The difference was Baltimore was able to get timely hits with runners in scoring position, and had a pitching staff that was able to close the door when Buccos were on base.

The O’s also hit three homeruns on the day, another stat that the Pirates have to contain if they hope to give teams trouble during the regular season.

Pittsburgh will have their first off day of the spring tomorrow, but will return to action on Wednesday when they take on the Toronto Blue Jays from Bradenton, Florida at 1:05pm.

And…

As Always…

Let’s Go Bucs!