The Pittsburgh Pirates held its Spring Training home opener Wednesday losing 4-1 at McKechnie Field to the Toronto Blue Jays in front of an crowd of 6,127.
Gerrit Cole started the game for the Pirates, and in his two innings threw 18 pitches, 13 of which were strikes. Cole consistently got ahead of batters, however hit Munenori Kawasaki, allowed a double to Dalton Pompey and then surrendered a run on a Dioner Navarro ground out.
The Pirates scored their lone run when Blue Jays pitcher Rob Rasmussen replaced Marcus Stroman and threw a wild pitch to his first batter, Mel Rojas Jr.
There were additional chances to score early. Josh Harrison reached base with a lead-off single and catcher Francisco Cervelli hit a ball that carried to center fielder Kevin Pillar. Harrison thought that Cervelli had a double but instead was doubled off first base to end the Pirates first inning threat. In the second inning Steve Lombardozzi was on third base when Willy Garcia grounded out, which meant the team scored one run in the second inning.
Vance Worley (0-1) tossed the next two innings for the Pirates. In the third, Worley retired the side on five pitches, however in the fourth inning allowed the first two batters to reach base and then a Pillar double made the score 2-1 Blue Jays. The next batter, Ramon Santiago, had an RBI ground out, which brought in another run.
The Blue Jays added a run in the seventh inning off left-handed reliever Antonio Bastardo. Bastardo retired his first two batters but allowed Caleb Gindl to triple and this hit was followed by a single from former Pirate Matt Hague.
Tony Watson, Radhames Liz, Jared Hughes and John Holdzkom each threw an inning without allowing a run. All four also did not allow a hit.
Todd Redmond (1-0) earned the win for the Blue Jays and Matt West, the save.
Thursday the Pirates will host its second consecutive Spring Training contest, this time against the New York Yankees. Both Francisco Liriano and Charlie Morton are expected to toss two innings. Clayton Richard, Mark Melancon, Jeremy Bleich, Deolis Guerra and Tyler Glasnow each will pitch one inning.
Notebook: The Pittsburgh Pirates announced that it had agreed to terms with 21 players for the 2015 season on Wednesday. Each has registered 0-3 years of major league service time. The 21 players are: Arquimedes Caminero, Gerrit Cole, Brandon Cumpton, Jaff Decker, Elias Diaz, Pedro Florimon, Willy Garcia, Alen Hanson, John Holzdkom, Nick Kingham, Bobby LaFromboise, Andrew Lambo, Jeff Locke, Jordy Mercer, Stolmy Pimentel, Gregory Polanco, Casey Sadler, Tony Sanchez, Rob Scahill, Justin Sellers and Jameson Taillon. Esmil Rogers is expected to start for the Yankees.
Josh Harrison was removed from Wednesday’s game against the Blue Jays after running the bases in the first inning because of left ankle discomfort. Harrison did not comment to media following the game and more is expected to be known Thursday.
The following is the line up for Thursday’s game against the Yankees:
Jose Tabata DH
Gregory Polanco RF
Andrew McCutchen CF
Starling Marte LF
Andrew Lambo 1B
Jung Ho Kang SS
Chris Stewart C
Sean Rodriguez 2B
Justin Sellers 3B
Francisco Liriano 1
Photo courtesy: USA Today
