Bucs Drop Spring Opener 2-1; Camp Notes - News, Injuries, Instructors, Moves

Hey – guess what opened today? Yep. Let the annals show that Mitch Keller started against the Twinkies at LECOM Park, and Guillermo Heredia was first Pirates leadoff batter to begin the Sheltie era. It was alas, a 2-1 loss.

It was 2-0 going into the bottom of the seventh – Keller and Miguel DelPozo each tossed a pair of scoreless frames, and Michael Feliz & Clay Holmes also added zeroes while James Marvel was, well, not marvelous with two run on three hits and two walks in his inning. The Bucs were held to one hit, a Cole Tucker single. Del Pozo put up a zippo to start the inning.

For the Bucs, Jason Delay walked and Ke’Bryon Hayes doubled, just missing a tater, to put Pittsburgh in business. But they stayed anchored after a K and comebacker. The Bucs did push across a run off Andrew Susac’s (NRI catcher) infield hit off a glove, but Hayes was tossed out trying to tie the score.Williams Jerez and Blake Cederlind followed with goose eggs. The Pirates got a one-out walk from Hayes and an Oneil Cruz rap in the ninth, but Jake Elmore put it to bed when he banged the next pitch back to the box for a game-ending DP.

Nice pitching to start, and each side used 25 players, so lots of introductions all around. And hey – they play two tomorrow!

Tomorrow: The Pirates split the squad. Detroit will visit LECOM at 1:05, with the game on AT&T SportsNet, while a busload of Bucs travel to Clearwater to play Philly at Spectrum Park, also at 1:05, with that match on 93.7 The Fan.

Notes: 

• No travel blips this year; the whole squad is in camp and on time.
• Eric Gonzalez isn’t quite 100% after breaking his foot in winter ball, but is close enough to get his reps in with some workload monitoring. The Pirates are giving him a look at third in camp per Kevin Gorman of the Tribune Review. Gorman also notes that Kevin Crick discovered he was tipping pitches last year, ID’ed through Bucco analytics, and has that under control now.
• The Pirates have continued their tradition of special camp instructors with deep roots. This year’s gang are Manny Sanguillen, The Candy Man and Omar Moreno. Steve Blass had a jersey on and Billy Maz even stopped by for a week to chat with the boys and drop some knowledge.
• Pirates injury update: RHP Jameson Taillon is throwing from 90 feet; RHP Geoff Hartlieb (foot) is throwing live BP, RHP Tom Koehler (shoulder) is good to go after missing last season, RHP Nick Burdi (thoracic outlet syndrome) is throwing w/o pain, and RHP Chad Kuhl is on schedule a year after TJ surgery. INF Erik Gonzalez (foot) isn’t quite at 100% yet, OF Jason Martin (shoulder) is involved in all the baseball activities to date and Gregory Polanco is clinically healed although the Bucs will be careful with his workload.

• Per Adam Berry of MLB.com, 2B Adam Frazier revealed that he broke his right index finger last spring and separated his right shoulder on Opening Day. He quietly played through them both and led the Pirates by appearing in 152 games last year.
• The Pirates are extending the netting at PNC and Bradenton’s LECOM Parks, so that it covers basically all the base boxes. Outfield fans are still on their own!
• Ugh. Pablo Reyes was suspended for 80 games after testing positive for PED Boldenone, with the suspension from the start of season. He wasn’t in camp; he had already been moved off the 40-man and placed on Indy’s roster during the off season.
• RHP Jared Hughes signed a minor-league, NRI deal w/the Astros. Guess Houston needed at least one guy at camp no one will hate on, lol.
• RHP AJ Schugel, 30, has signed with the indie league KC T-Bones. He tossed pretty well for the Pirates (6-2-1/3.00 in 68 outings during 2016-17) but a major shoulder injury in 2018 has derailed him since.
• The Brewers signed UT Brock Holt to a one-year contract with a club option for 2021.