The Pittsburgh Pirates lived life in Wednesday’s game outside McKechnie Field, hitting three times the home runs, and now have five times the sellout crowds with an 8-7 Spring Training victory Wednesday against the Detroit Tigers.
A.J. Burnett, now firmly the third pitcher in the Pirates rotation, received a no-decision throwing 3.2 innings, allowing five hits, two runs, two walks and five strikeouts.
Charlie Leesman picked up the win, his first of the spring getting the final out of the fourth inning and walking a batter. Leesman allowed no runs the game and has not in any of his three appearances which total 2.1 innings.
Mark Melancon and Tony Watson each pitched a shutout inning combining for one hit allowed and one strike out.
Antonio Bastardo once again allowed a run this time on a double to Ian Kinsler. Kinsler would advance to third base on the play after an error. Bastardo did strike out two batters and that was the lone hit he allowed.
The three Pirates home runs were hit by Starling Marte, Willy Garcia and Tony Sanchez. Both Marte and Garcia hit their first home runs of the spring, with Marte’s coming in the fifth and scoring two runs and Garcia’s coming in the seventh inning and plating three. Marte was 3-for-3 at the plate with two RBI as well as two runs scored.
Sanchez’s home run was his second of the spring. Sanchez is 8 for his last 12 at the plate and is hitting .526. With Chris Stewart being monitored for a hamstring injury, Sanchez now has the opportunity to further his case to potentially be the backup catcher or play his way on to the roster as a third catcher.
The contest was played in front of 9,018 which is a McKechnie Field record. The Pirates are now 7-6-2 on the spring.
Thursday the Pirates will face the Baltimore Orioles with the game scheduled to start at 1:05 p.m. Radhames Liz will start for the Pirates and his mound opponent will be Chris Tillman. Nick Kingham, Jared Hughes, Arquimedes Caminero, Stolmy Pimentel and Collin Balester also are scheduled to pitch. The game will have a webcast on pirates.com.
