Pirates Fall To Blue Jays Again

by Zane Heiple

Photo by Mike Cassese/Reuters

Game two of the 2012 spring training season went a little better in terms of statistics for the Pittsburgh Pirates, but the Toronto Blue Jays still came out on top with an 8-5 victory.  Even with a 0-2 mark this spring, there is still nothing to get upset about, the wins will come, and spring training is about players improving as they ready for the April 5^th opener.

New Pirate Erik Bedard got his first start of the spring and first in a Pirates jersey today.  His two innings of work showed that he still has a lot of work to do, since he may be the top candidate to start on opening day with injuries to Charlie Morton and A.J. Burnett.  In two innings of work he gave up two runs on one hit with two walks and one strikeout.  Shairon Martis, who is a non-roster invitee and Evan Meek, were roughed up in their outings.  Meek, who is coming off a difficult 2011 season gave up four runs, three earned, in 2/3 of inning.  Martis has not pitched since 2009 with the Washington Nationals allowed 2 runs, none earned, in two innings of work.  Joel Hanrahan, Jason Grilli, and Daniel Moskos were nearly flawless striking out three and walking one in three innings of work. 

With Pittsburgh claiming to be a small ball team, defense will be very important to them.  Three errors in the field today show that they need to knock a little rust of the gloves.  Two of the errors were by players I do not expect to see on the opening day roster, Martis and Sterling Marte.  The third by Chase d’Arnaud shows that this young player has work to do.  His opening day roster spot is up in the air.  It does appear that there is not a starting spot in the infield, so he may be better suited to gain experience in Indianapolis.

The bats looked better today Matt Evans dropped a bomb in the seventh inning, while Nate McClouth hit a double.  With catcher being a huge question mark this offseason, it was great to see Rod Barajas go 2-2 with 2 RBI today.  Downside was Andrew McCutchen and Pedro Alvarez each went 0-2. 

Like I stated earlier, spring training games are about improvement, not results.  As the team improves and players are able to get back into game rhythm the wins will come.

Tomorrow the Buccos will be playing under the lights as they head to Sarasota to take on the Baltimore Orioles at 7:05.  Jo-Jo Reyes will start while other non-roster pitcher Mike Crotta and Tim Wood are also scheduled to pitch.  The O’s will counter with lefty Brian Matusz.

Grapefruit League Record:  0-2

And...

As Always…

Let’s Go Bucs!