Moring Rundown: Pirates defeat Orioles in Spring Breakout game
Pitching staff combines to one-hit Orioles prospects in seven inning exhibition.
The first two games of MLB’s first-ever Spring Breakout series took place on Thursday, with some of the top prospects from the Baltimore Orioles and Pittsburgh Pirates organization participating.
One of the most exciting parts about this game was that the Orioles feature some of the best-hitting prospects, headlined by Jackson Holliday, while the Pirates have perhaps the best collection of young arms of any other farm system.
After the seven-inning exhibition, it turns out that good pitching does, in fact, trump good hitting, at least on this night.
The Pirates pitching held the Orioles to one run-on-run hit. The lone hit was on a bunt by Enrique Bradfield Jr., while the run was scored on a balk.
Paul Skenes started the game and struck out two hitters, including Holliday. Hunter Barco pitched two efficient innings, and Bubba Chandler closed the game in the seventh.
In the day's first game, the Pirates dropped their Spring Training game 5-2 despite five solid innings from Marco Gonzales.
Billy McKinney and Ke’Bryan Hayes drove in the only two runs for the Pirates, with the offense only combining for six hits on the day.
Gonzales struck out four while allowing one earned run in five innings, his best outing of the Spring. In his inning of work, Ryan Borucki was tagged for three earned runs (four total). Aroldis Chapman, Brent Honeywell Jr., and Justin Meis each through a shutout inning.
The Pirates will face the New York Yankees on Friday at 6:35 pm ET, with Quinn Priester set to make the start.
Top Exit Velocity
Connor Joe - 107.8 mph - Double
Matt Fraizer - 105 mph - Single
Alika Williams - 102.7 mph - Double
Ke’Bryan Hayes - 102.7 mph - Groundout
Connor Joe - 102.1 mph - Groundout
Top Pitch Velocity
Paul Skenes - 101.7 mph
Paul Skenes - 101.7 mph
Paul Skenes - 101.1 mph
Paul Skenes - 101.1 mph
Paul Skenes - 100.6 mph
Most Whiffs (Whiff%)
Marco Gonzales - 8 (21.6%0
Paul Skenes - 5 (71.4%)
Bubba Chandler - 4 (66%)
Justin Meis - 4 (50%)
Hunter Barco - 3 (33%)
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Paul Skenes.
NGL that entire inning by Skenes was heavenly. Most impressive was the AB versus Holliday. After getting hosed on a couple of calls, Skenes retained his composure and had the balls to attack one of the two best hitting prospects in the game with a 3-1 slider and 3-2 changeup. I could watch it on a loop.