Pirates Pounded 12-3; Gregory Back

Today’s Game: 

Tyler Anderson led off the proceedings before yielding to Quinn Priester (first spring outing), Chris Stratton, Edgar Santana, Shea Spitzbarth and Nick Mears. Gregory Polanco was back after missing 10 days for the birth of his child and DH’ed; Jared Oliva played center and Erik Gonzalez was at short.

Anderson went four frames and gave up a pair of homers in the second while fanning seven, leaving a 2-2 game for the rest of the boys. Priester showed some nerves, walking his first hitter on four pitches, giving up a stolen base and then an RBI double, with Stratton getting the final out. Chris tossed a scoreless sixth. The roof fell in on Santana and Spitzbarth – Edgar was charged with six runs in 1/3 inning, the killer blow a three-run dinger, and Shea gave up two more runs, one on a bases-loaded walk, before he could close the Birds out. Mears surrendered the final run, a walk that came around after a right-side bouncer and single.

For the Bucs, Ke’Bryan Hayes had two hits (including a dinger) and two RBI while Fraze added two more raps, one a triple. El Coffee looks like pappy-hood agreed with him; he also tagged a three-bagger and walked, and Mason Martin gave Pittsburgh a triple trifecta today. 

Notes:

• Phil Evans was scratched from today’s lineup with a tight hammy.
• The governor loosened restrictions on outdoor crowds, and PNC is allowed to reach 50% capacity. The Pirates are evaluating how that will effect ticket availability. 
• BTW, congrats to Pitt baseball – after a strong showing against three ranked teams, they’ve cracked the Top 25 (at 18 & 19) for just the second time in its history.

Tomorrow’s  Game:

The Pirates travel to Fort Myer’s Hammond Stadium, where they’ll match up with the Twins at 1:05 with the game on pirates.com. Chad Kuhl gets the start.