On offense, the Pirates were led by none other than Pedro Alvarez, who had a pair of singles on the day in five at-bats. He also struck out twice. He eliminated the toe tap that he had been experimenting with earlier this spring and it led to good results, so that could be a sign of things changing. Greg Picart, a minor league guy, also had two hits today. It wasn’t a bad day at the plate for the Pirates who collected 12 hits and six runs, and hopefully some of these good hitting days will spill into the regular season, that would be a nice boost for a somewhat beat-up pitching staff.
Nick Evans and Jake Fox were both cut this morning, leaving Yamaico Navarro, Josh Harrison, and Matt Hague all fighting for two bench spots.