Vance Worley’s six-inning start had some peaks and valleys in the Pirates 7-5 loss to the Atlanta Braves Thursday.
Worley threw six innings allowing seven hits, five runs and striking out three batters. The vast majority of the damage came in the first inning in which the Braves scored five runs. The highlight was a Chris Johnson two-run homer, his first of the spring. Jace Peterson, Christian Bethancourt and Kelly Johnson also registered RBI in the frame. The Braves opened the game with four consecutive singles.
Worley would settle down retiring 15 of the last 17 batters he faced.
“It’s always a good sign when pitchers or hitters can make in-game adjustments and take care of themselves,” manager Clint Hurdle said.
Clayton Richard took the loss throwing 2.2 innings and is now 1-1 in the spring. Jonny Gomez hit his first home run, a solo shot and Jesus Flores singled to create the two run separation. Richard is expected to make the Pirates 40-man roster after Brandom Cumpton is placed on the 60-day disabled list.
Former Pirate Wandy Rodriguez had his struggles as well throwing five innings allowing eight hits and four runs.
The Pirates scored single runs in the first, third, fourth and fifth innings. Josh Harrison continued his successful spring with the only thing that was missing a home run. The blast was his first in Spring Training. In the third inning it was Andrew McCutchen that cut a line drive single to left field while Francisco Cervelli added an RBI double an inning later. The Pirates capped off their comeback with Neil Walker’s second home run of the spring.
Walker was 2-for-4 on the day with a double and the home run while getting hits in five out of his past seven at-bats. Jordy Mercer is 11-for-18 in his last five games and is batting .341 on the spring.
The Pirates [10-10-3] will have a road contest Friday against the Minnesota Twins. Jeff Locke will start against Phil Hughes in this game. Hurdle said a decision in the battle between Locke and Worley will be decided “sooner rather than later”, so this may be Locke’s final chance to make his case. Antonio Bastardo, Rob Scahill and John Holdzkom also are scheduled to pitch for the Pirates. This game will be webcast on Pirates.com.
Notebook: The Pirates played a minor league game and Gerrit Cole allowed four runs on seven hits in 5.1 innings of work. Cole walked three and struck out seven while throwing 100 pitches for the first time this spring.
In other news, the Pirates released minor leaguer Zack Von Rosenberg, a sixth-round draft pick in 2009 that received a $1.2 million signing bonus.
Photo credit: Carlos Osorio
