Morning Rundown: Pirates defeat Tampa Bay Rays, Four assigned to minor league camp

The Pirates have now three of their last four, four NRI assigned to minor league camp.

Backed by the home run ball, the Pittsburgh Pirates won their third game in the last four, defeating the Tampa Bay Rays 7-3.

Jack Suwinski, Henry Davis, and Canaan Smith-Njigba all went deep for the Pirates, accounting for five of the seven runs on the day.

Jared Triolo picked up another two hits, also driving in a run, and Ji-Hwan Bae singled (which drove in a run), stole a base, and then later scored.

Alika Williams made some solid contact on the day, picking up a pair of hits, and Nick Gonzales went 1-4 with a double.

On the pitching side, Luis Ortiz allowed an unearned run across three innings, walking one and striking out three.

Paul Skenes followed that up with two innings, allowing a home run among his three hits while also striking out three.

Another top prospect made his Spring debut, as Bubba Chandler pitched a scoreless inning in relief.

Hunter Stratton continued his case to sneak into the bullpen despite being an NRI, throwing another scoreless inning.

The Pirates head back to Bradenton to play the Toronto Blue Jays, with Jared Jones to make the start and Mitch Keller slated for Wednesday.

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After the game, the Pirates assigned four players - Anthony Solometo, Bubba Chandler, Thomas Harrington, and Andres Alvarez - to minor league camp.

The three pitchers are among the Pirates’ top prospects heading into 2024, and each got into a single game.

Alvarez became the first player in Altoona Curve history to have a 20/20 season in 2022, but he couldn’t repeat his success last year. He didn’t appear in a Spring game.

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There was no available data tracking, but I did track whiffs and called strikes for the pitchers.

Luis Ortiz - 6/24 whiffs (25%), 4 called strikes

Paul Skenes - 7/19 (36%), 6 called strikes

Kyle Nicolas - 3/11 (27%), 3 called strikes

Bubba Chandler - 0/9, 2 called strikes

Hunter Stratton - 0/3

Connor Sadzeck - 2/6 (33%), 2 called strikes

I’ll have more later today on some of the pitching since some notable names took the mound Monday.

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