Offense has not been hard to come by of late for the Pittsburgh Pirates, but the team managed four hits in a 4-2 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies.
Josh Bell hit 1-for-2 at the plate in Tuesday’s game and has safely reached base in the past five games. Harold Ramirez made the most of his lone plate appearance earning a single. Ramirez has seven hits in his last 10 at-bats
Niese struggles
It certainly was an outing to forget for Jonathon Niese and not because he lost to go 0-2 on the Spring.
Niese had issues controlling his pitches leaving many up in the zone for the Phillies to hit.
One of the pitches was hit for a two-run home run by Darin Ruf.
Niese allowed all four Phillies runs in this outing on three hits in three innings. He also walked two batters while being unable to strike anyone out.
Relievers do their job
The long ball has affected relievers in recent games, but in this game, all five relievers kept the ball in play while also pitching a shutout.
Rob Scahill was the long reliever not to surrender a hit. Scahill in fact struck out two batters in his inning of work. He has work to do to earn an open reliever spot but it was a year ago where he did enough to surprise everyone and make the trip up north.
Neftali Feliz also pitched in this game and allowed a hit but everything else was clean.
Up Next
The Pirates will host the Boston Red Sox Wednesday afternoon. Ryan Vogelsong will start against former St. Louis Cardinals product Joe Kelly. The Root Sports telecast will also feature appearances from Mark Melancon, Arquimedes Caminero and Jared Hughes.
Photo credit: @Pirates
