Morning Rundown: Pirates win on walk-off home run, trim major league camp roster
Pirates come from behind in the ninth to win, make some roster moves
The Pittsburgh Pirates were trailing 2-0 going into the bottom of the ninth before eventually tying on a walk-off home run from Javier Rivas.
Nick Yorke and Bryce Johnson hit back-to-back sacrifice flies before Rivas walked things off. Joey Bart went 2-3 as the starters mostly went silent.
Thomas Harrington got the start for the Pirates, allowing a run on one hit and a walk while striking out three over 3.2 innings pitched. He threw 62 pitches in that span and was his first Grapefruit League appearance since the beginning of the month.
David Bednar struck out two over a clean inning, and Wilkin Ramos pitched the final two frames, striking out two while walking one.
The Pirates head on the road to face the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday. Andrew Heaney is scheduled to make the start for Pittsburgh, with an expected first pitch time of 1:05 pm ET.
After the game, the Pirates trimmed some of their major league roster, optioning Jason Delay to Triple-A Indianapolis. They also reassigned Darick Hall, Nick Solak, Alika Williams, Abrahan Gutierrez, Matt Gorski, Bryce Johnson, and Yohan Ramirez to minor league camp.
The moves leave them with 42 players left in major league camp.
Top Exit Velocity
Tommy Pham - 105.9 mph - Groundout
Tommy Pham - 105.8 mph - Flyout
Bryan Reynolds - 104 mph - Groundout
Javier Rivas - 102.5 mph - Home Run
Ke’Bryan Hayes - 102 mph - Flyout
Top Pitch Velocity
Wilkin Ramos - 97.6 mph
Wilkin Ramos - 95.9 mph
Wilkin Ramos - 95.6 mph
Wilkin Ramos - 94.6 mph
Wilkin Ramos - 94.6 mph
Most Whiffs
Thomas Harrington - 4
Wilkin Ramos - 4
David Bednar - 1
Kyle Nicolas - 1
Burch Smith - 1
Support the site by becoming a paid member, and get access to all of our premium content, including our Top 25 list with complete player write-ups and video breakdowns, which come out weekly.
It will also give access to my player feature articles from on-site trips.
We have monthly and yearly plans available, with the latter costing an average of $4.16/month.
Jared Jones has a sore elbow. Still at the evaluation stage.
Hopefully this is just a standard spring blip, but it’s a reminder of the idiocy of putting all your slim hopes for success on a few guys in the rotation.
The news that Jones is having further imaging is disappointing. But on the plus side, the Cubs are in last place and the Pirates are tied for first.