FanPost

Bucs vs. Twins 3/7 Play by Play

The Bucs are playing the Twins today in Ft. Myers and we've got a couple of things to look forward to today.  Jason Bay is batting in three hole and Tony Armas Jr. is making his first start of the spring schedule.

I figured I'd do a little play by play here for everyone, if you're interested...

TOP 1:

-Duffy leads off with a grounder to second, one out.
-Nate McLouth ropes one into right, but straight at the RF, 2 down.
-Bay strikes out looking at the 3rd strike.  His at bat was awful, 2 bat swings and then watched a curve ball over the inside corner.

BOTTOM 1:

-Leadoff hitter grounds out.
-Jason Bartlett doubles to left center.
-Mauer singles between SS and 3B. Runners at 1st and 3rd, 1 out.
-Torii Hunter rips a line drive single down the 3rd base line.  One runs scores, Mauer moves around to 3rd base.
-Paulino makes a perfect throw to pick off Hunter trying to steal second. 2 outs.
-Garrett Jones, a beast of a man, grounds out to Bixler at short.  3 outs, 1 run.

Twins 1 - Pirates 0

TOP 2:
-Eldred singles to lead off the second.
-Paulino singles as well.
-Bautista works the count full, only to ground into the 6-4-3 double play. 2 out.
-Matos Grounds out to short to end the inning.

Twins 1 - Pirates 0

BOTTOM 2:
-Rondell White flies out to RF. 1 Out.
-Some fella flies out to center.
-Armas strikes out a guy named Glenn Williams to end the inning.

Twins 1 - Pirates 0

TOP 3:
-Bixler at the dish. Grounds to 3rd and Tommy Watkins makes a nice play to get Bixler at first. 1 out.
-Javier Guzman strikes out swinging on a good slider from Boof Bonser. Bonser is getting ahead on everyone. 2 outs.
-Bonser strikes out Duffy on 3 pitches.

Bonser had every batter that inning in an 0-2 hole.

Twins 1 - Pirates 0

BOTTOM 3:
-Tommy Watkins runs the count full and then grounds out to 3rd. Bautista ranged left toward short, bobbled the ball and then made a good, strong throw to get Watkins at first. 1 out.
-Nick Punto works the count full as well and then grounds out to first. Punto makes a headfirst slide into first but is still out. 2 away.
-Bartlet rips one down the line and Bautista makes a great backhanded grab and gets Bartlet by a mile. 3 down.

I'm guessing Armas is done for the day. His line is as follows:
3IP, 3H, 1ER, 0K, 0BB.

Twins 1 - Pirates 0

TOP 4:
-Joe Nathan in to take over for Boof Bonser.
-Nate McLouth is hanging in there against one of the best closers in baseball. Alas he strikes out on the 8th pitch of the at bat. 1 down.
-Jason Bay does exactly what he's been working on this off season, he lines to right center, but Hunter moves into position and makes the catch. 2 away.
-Don't know what happened to Brad Eldred because MLB.tv just crapped out on me. When it came back it was between innings. So I guess that's 3 outs.

Twins 1 - Pirates 0

BOTTOM 4:
-Marty McLeary replaces Armas, Jr.
-Mauer grounds out to Bixler.
Hunter pops out to Brad Eldred. 2 down.
-McCleary strikes out Jones in fashion. I think he threw 9 pitches that inning.

Twins 1 - Pirates 0

TOP 5:
-Jesse Crain replaces Joe Nathan.
-Paulino leads off with a single to center.
-Bautista nearly grounds into ANOTHER double play. Luckily his chopper was too slow to short to make the turn. 1 out.
-Bold move by Jim Tracy as he puts the hit-and-run on with Matos at the dish. He pops it out of play, Bautista back to first. Matos then strikes out.
-Bixler strikes out. End inning.
These Twins bullpen pitchers throw some serious gas.

Twins 1 - Pirates 0

BOTTOM 5:
-Rondell White grounds out to Bixler. 1 out.
-Luis Rodriguez, the guy I called "some fella" earlier, flies out to Matos in right. 2 away.
-Glenn Williams hits a dribbler to Eldred who touches the bag for the final out of the 5th.

Marty McLeary looks great.

Twins 1 - Pirates 0

TOP 6:
-Crain still pitching for the Twins. Jason Tyner has replaced Hunter in center and will bat in the clean-up stop, which is FREAKIN' HILARIOUS!
-Javier Guzman leads off the 6th with a dribbler to second. 1 out.
-Chris Duffy up, 0-2 on the day pops to 3rd to go 0-3. 2 down.
-Nate McLouth hits one sharply to first and is out at first as the pitcher covers the base. End of the inning.

When will Brad Eldred hit his 5th homer of the spring?

Twins 1 - Pirates 0

BOTTOM 6:
-McLeary still pitching.
-Tommy Watkins CRUSHES a high fastball to left field. Homerun.
-Punto grounds out to Bautista at third. 1 out.
-Jason Bartlet grounds out to Bixler at Short.
-Reigning AL Batting Champ Joe Mauer smokes one to 1st and Eldred makes a real nice backhanded grab before tossing to McCleary at first for the final out of the inning.

Again, guessing McCleary is done for the day.
3IP, 1H, 1ER, 1K, 0BB.

Twins 2 - Pirates 0

TOP 7:
-New Twins pitcher Rincon throws an 0-2 pitch at Jason Bay's neck. Bay responds by popping out to shallow center. 1 away.
-Big Country Brad Eldred, who was down 0-2, worked the count full before striking out on a ball 4 pitch. 2 down.
-Einar Diaz, replacing Paulino, chips one to left center for a 2 out single.
-Jose Bautista pops out. End inning.

Twins 2 - Pirates 0

BOTTOM 7:
-Danny Kolb replaces Marty McLeary.
-Jason Tyner grounds to second where Don Kelly moves to his left and makes a clean play to get the speedy Tyner at first. 1 away.
-Garrett Jones hits one sharply to Bixler who makes the play. 2 down.
-Dan Kolb issues the first free pass of the day to Rondell White.
-Josh Rabe pinch runs for White.
-Whoever #92 is for the Twins just grounded out to second to end the inning.

Twins 2 - Pirates 0

TOP 8:
-J.D. Durbin pitching for the Twins.
-Luis Matos puts down a bunt single. Vic Buttler is in to pinch run.
-Ground out to first moves Buttler to second. 1 out.
-Don Kelly singles up the middle and Buttler comes around to score!
-Rajai Davis just laid down an AWESOME bunt, but Durbin makes an amazing barehanded grab and a 100MPH throw to first to get Davis. 2 down.
-Michael Ryan crushes one to dead center over the head of Tyner and off the wall. His double scores another Pirate run.
-Passed ball moves Michael Ryan over to 3rd with 2 outs.
-Ryan Doumit takes a free pass.
-Edwards singles to score a run.
-Einar Diaz gets DRILLED in the back. Bases loaded, 2 outs.
-DeCaster swings at the first pitch and popped out to right to end the inning.

Twins 2 - Pirates 3

BOTTOM 8:
-Damaso Marte in to pitch for the Bucs.
-Williams flies out to Davis in center.
-Marte beans Watkins in the leg. 1 on, 1 out.
-Matthew LeCroy taking over the DH spot for the Twinkies, Alexi Casillas in to pinch run.
-LeCroy strikes out swinging.
-Trevor Plouffe grounds out to second to end the inning.

Twins 2 - Pirates 3

TOP 9:
-Ricky Barrett pitching fr the Twins.
Buttler singles to right center to lead off the 9th just over the head of the second baseman.
-Buttler is picked off trying to steal second. A wiser baserunner would have slid to the outside of the bag and would have been safe...
-Brian Bixler takes a walk. 1 on, 1 out.
-Don Kelly, 1 for 1 with an RBI and a run scored, pokes one to the opposite field for another single. Runners on first and second with 1 out.
-Rajai Davis takes a pair of very questionable strike calls before flying out to Josh Rabe in left field. 2 on, 2 out.
-Passed ball again moves both runners up.
-Michael Ryan rips one to right center to drive in 2 more runs.
-Tristan Crawford in to pitch to Ryan Doumit.
-Doumit swings away on a 3-0 count and pops out to Rabe in left. That'll do it for the ninth.

Twins 2 - Pirates 5

BOTTOM 9:
-Josh Sharpless pitching for the Bucs.
-Corey Feiner pops out to first base.
-Jason Tyner walks.
-Some guy just grounded to first baseman Mike Edwards who made a nice play and flipped to Sharpless for the second out. Tyner moved up to second. 2 Away.
-Josh Rabe grounds out to third to end the game.

BUCS WIN THEIR FIRST OF THE SPRING!

Pirates score 5 on 11 hits and commit no errors.
Twins score 2 runs on 4 hits and commit no errors.

FINAL SCORE: Pirates 5 - Twins 2

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