Starling Marte's Hit Streak Ends As Pirates Lose To Phillies

Starling Marte's streak ended with a remarkable eight straight hits as the Pirates lost 5-4 to the Phillies. Marte homered in the eighth in his first at-bat, but flied out to right in the 10th. Marte had gone 3-for-3 against the Orioles on Monday and 2-for-2 against both the Yankees on Tuesday and the Jays on Wednesday. He's now 9-for-13 with two home runs so far this spring. The usual caveats about Spring Training not mattering and about there being no real chance of Marte starting the season in the majors still apply, of course.

The Phillies broke the 4-4 tie in the bottom of the 10th when Michael Dubee -- a minor leaguer whose father is Phillies pitching coach Rich Dubee -- allowed a walk-off solo homer to Lou Montanez.

Rod Barajas went 2-for-3 with a double for the Bucs. James McDonald pitched three innings, allowing one run and no walks while striking out one. Justin Wilson walked three batters, including a walk that scored a run, while pitching the fourth, and he had to be removed in favor of Brian Tallet, who got out of the jam.

The Pirates have another road game tomorrow night against the Red Sox. There seems to be significant interest in Spring Training gamethreads for every game this year, so I'm going to start posting them a couple hours before each game.