Pirates Preseason: Bucs host Braves Wednesday afternoon

Pittsburgh Pirates (11-10 preseason) vs. Atlanta Braves (11-10 preseason) - Wednesday, March 24 @ 1:05pm

Stadium: LECOM Park, Bradenton, Florida

TV: AT&T Sports Net, MLB Network

Radio: None

Webcast: None

SB Nation Braves site: Talking Chop

Starting Pitchers

Pirates: JT Brubaker - RHP - (1-2) - 9.00 ERA - 3 total Ks

Braves: Ian Anderson - LHP - (1-1) - 4.66 ERA - 18 total Ks

Probable Starting Lineups (subject to last-minute changes)

Pirates

1. Adam Frazier – 2B

2. Ke’Bryan Hayes – 3B

3. Bryan Reynolds – LF

4. Colin Moran – 1B

5. Gregory Polanco – RF

6. Kevin Newman – SS

7. Dustin Fowler – CF

8. Jacob Stallings – C

9. JT Brubaker – P

Braves

1. Ender Inciarte – CF

2. Dansby Swanson – SS

3. Austin Riley – RF

4. Johan Camargo – 3B

5. Pablo Sandoval – 1B

6. Ehire Adrianza – 2B

7. Abraham Almonte – LF

8. Alex Jackson – C

9. Ian Anderson – P

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The Buccos have won three games in a row to move to 11-10 on the spring docket, and the Braves — who’ve lost two straight — bring the same record to Bradenton.

Chase De Jong gave the Pirates 3 ²⁄₃ scoreless innings in Tuesday’s win over the Twins, as he yielded just one hit and no walks while striking out two. He lowered his Grapefruit League ERA to 0.77 over 11 ²⁄₃ innings.

Pirates pitching coach Oscar Marin said he liked what he saw of the 27-year-old right-hander, who was signed to a minor league contract in January and received an invitation to spring training.

“He knows himself pretty well — he know he has ride on his fastball and he knows what he does with his breaking ball,” he said during an interview Tuesday on AT&T SportsNet. Marin said De Jong also has a slider that he developed recently and he’s able to add that to his mix.

Marin said he also was pleased with what he saw from Mitch Keller Monday. “He had some hard contact here and there but I loved his stuff,” Marin said. “He was getting ahead in counts and he did a better job of commanding his fastball.”

The Pirates managed just six hits Tuesday and the only run came on red-hot Adam Frazier’s home run in the sixth. Frazier had two of those six hits and now is hitting a blistering .586, with 17 hits in 29 at-bats. Seven Pirates pitchers combined to shut out the Twins and limit them to just three hits.

Bucs Dugout, this is your game thread. If you’re watching, or if you can’t watch and want the scoop, chat down below!