Pirates Fall 7-1 In First Spring Training Game

The Pirates lost 7-1 to the Blue Jays in their first Spring Training game of 2012, on a windy Saturday afternoon in Dunedin. Not that it matters much, but I listened to the whole thing and didn't really ever hear the Pirates do anything particularly interesting. James McDonald gave up two runs in two innings. Brad Lincoln and Chris Resop then pitched scoreless innings. But Chris Leroux (who did strike out three batters in his inning, and the Bucs' pitchers did strike out nine batters while hitting two and walking only two) gave up a solo homer to Eric Thames, and then Tony Watson gave up three runs in his. The Pirates' offense only managed three hits; one of those was a double by Starling Marte late in the game.

Again, it doesn't mean anything, but it's still too bad to see the Pirates' first Spring Training game be one of those ultra-typical Pirates games where they just don't really show up.

One oddity in this one: after the Jays won the game when the Pirates went down in the top of the ninth, the Bucs still wanted to get Juan Cruz an inning of work, so the Jays let him pitch an inning after the game ended. That inning was uneventful, and now, at 3:41 PM, it looks like the game is over.