3/9 Recap | Pirates 7 Red Sox 4

by: Drew Brown
McEffect hopeful

The Pirates headed to JetBlue Park in Fort Meyers to face the Boston Red Sox tonight which was broadcasted on MLB Network. The Pirates won 7-4 with Andrew McCutchen leading the cause with a 3 hit night.

Clay Buchholz started for Boston and had a shaky start allowing two runs through three innings, while striking out only one. Vincente Padilla had a horrible outing allowing four runs on five hits over two innings, which certainly will not help his chances of getting the fifth spot in the Red Sox rotation. Will Inman, Michael Bowden, and Brandon Duckworth all had appearances for the Sox as well.

As far as pitching for the Pirates went, Shairon Martis made his first start of the spring, and did pretty well pitching two shutout innings while giving up two hits, striking out one, and also hitting one batter. Chris Resop pitched a shutout third inning and Tony Watson pitched the fourth and fifth innings allowing two runs on three hits, one of them being a solo homerun to David Ortiz. Watson has had a slow start to spring training, with an ERA of 11.25. Ryota Igarashi pitched the sixth, allowing one earned run, on two hits, while striking out one, on a pitch that was clocked at 94 MPH. Doug Slaten threw the seventh inning, and allowed one run, on a solo homerun to Darnell McDonald (cousin of James McDonald) to go along with three other base runners allowed. Daniel McCutchen pitched a solid, scoreless inning of relief with two strikeouts and Tim Wood closed the game out, picking up the save, with a scoreless inning as well.

On the offensive side, the Pirates racked up ten hits, making it five straight games that they have posted 10+. Andrew McCutchen, as I said above, went 3 for 3 and definitely doesn’t look like he’s giving up after signing his big contract earlier in the week. Jose Tabata picked up two doubles and two RBIs and Clint Barmes contributed as well with two hits and an RBI. Garrett Jones drove in the first run of the game in the first inning on a groundout and Eric Fryer and Jordy Mercer contributed with base hits as well.

Pedro Ciriaco, former Pirate, had two at bats, and picked up a single off of Doug Slaten in the seventh.
All in all, it was a good night for the Bucs, as they defeated the Boston Red Sox with a solid game all around. The pitching, with the exception of Tony Watson and Doug Slaten, looked fantastic to go along with a solid performance from the offense.