3/26 Recap | Orioles 4 Pirates 1

Erik Bedard had a fantastic outing on Monday night under the lights of McKechnie Field. The Pirates newly announced Opening Day starter went six plus innings giving up two runs on seven hits while striking out five. That line would have looked a lot better if he had not gone out to pitch the seventh. In his first six innings of work Bedard shutout the Orioles on four hits. He looks great on the hill and ready for an Erik Bedard season. The Pirates got a solid inning from Jason Grilli who came in and cleaned up the mess that Bedard left. Juan Cruz and Tony Watson gave up runs in their innings, although Watson’s run was unearned. All four pitchers that toed the rubber today are expected to be on the Opening Day roster.

The offense had a rare bad day. They fielded a Major League lineup, and probably the same one that they will have out there on April 5th. The team collected just two hits. Neil Walker was the only starter with a hit, and it was only a hit because of some serious help from the wind. It was a solid shot to deep center, but Adam Jones should have made the catch, however it fell in and the official scorer gave Neil a double. Michael McKenry had the Pirates other hit. The team was 2/29 on the day. The biggest disappointment was once again Pedro Alvarez who went 0/3 with a pair of strikeouts and a weak groundout to first. He also made a throwing error in the game.

Not a great game for the Pirates, but it was good to see Bedard in a groove and striking some guys out.