Each day during spring training for the Pittsburgh Pirates, we’ll be giving you game recaps, news updates, and video of player and coach interviews, highlights, and more from the day.
Today the Pittsburgh Pirates finally saw an opponent other than the Detroit Tigers as they took on the Toronto Blue Jays at McKechnie Field in Bradenton. The Pirates lost an offense-filled game 10-8, but the story of the day was legendary hockey announcer, Doc Emrick, who was in the booth calling the action alongside Greg Brown and John Wehner.
The big news from the game was we saw the spring debuts of both Jon Niese and Ryan Vogelsong. The results were fairly mixed for Niese as he retired the first five batters he faced before allowing four runs in the second inning. The runs were a bit misleading, though, as an error by Jason Rogers kept the inning alive and allowed the Blue Jays to score their first two runs of the ballgame.
Vogelsong’s spring debut was much cleaner as he went two innings, allowing zero runs and striking out two.
Here are Niese and Vogelsong following the game:
Michael Morse got the scoring started in the first inning when his opposite field double scored Matt Joyce. Morse also drew a walk before being removed in the fifth inning.
You can’t really put too much stock in spring training wins and losses, as the approach is obviously the important thing. Even if a pitcher doesn’t get the results, you can still find good in their performance.
Despite poor numbers on the surface for the game, Clint Hurdle was still fairly pleased with Niese’s performance. He liked the way he attacked the zone and believed that Niese was the victim of some poor calls.
Clint Hurdle’s post-game comments:
The Pirates play their first televised game tomorrow afternoon at 1:05 on Root Sports against the Minnesota Twins at McKechnie Field.
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