Wheee! The Pirates went nuts on Terry Doyle and Anthony Swarzak, scoring 10 runs in the first inning. The Bucs faced Doyle a few days ago and I wondered, at the time, what he was doing there -- he's a Rule 5 pick with mediocre stuff (at least judging from that last start) who's 26 and has no Class AAA experience. I'm glad my team isn't the one wasting Spring Training starts on him, and I'd be tearing my hair out if they were. This just seems like a really weird attempt to mimic the Royals' 'success' with Nathan Adcock, except with a guy who's three years older.
Anyway, Doyle allowed eight runs and only got two outs, one of which was on a caught stealing. For the most part, it was one double after another. The Pirates didn't stop after that, either, as Alex Presley hit a solo homer in the third. Then Matt Hague and Garrett Jones homered off our old friend Phil Dumatrait. (They're like the 1995 Braves, these Twins. And yes, I know it's easy to be snarky about Spring Training competition, and it's pretty glass house-y to poke fun when one's own team is starting Jo-Jo Reyes, but I still don't understand what the Twins are doing with Doyle.) The Bucs got three more in the eighth. Presley, Hague and Jones all got three hits apiece.
The Bucs proved that if you score 17 runs, even Jo-Jo Reyes can win, as Reyes picked up the W despite allowing four runs in his 2.1 innings.
The Bucs host the Phillies tomorrow.