The story of the day was James McDonald, who pitched a gem. J-Mac went seven innings giving up just two hits and one runs while striking out three. He bounced back quite nicely from his last start in which he didn’t have control of the fastball, not walking a batter in his seven innings of work. After McDonald exited, Chris Resop pitched a scoreless eighth to keep the Pirates ahead. Ryota Igarashi gave up three runs in the ninth on two walks and a home run. Daniel Moskos cleaned it up for him and got the final two outs of the inning, striking out both batters. Kris Johnson, a minor league signing this offseason, looked just terrible in tenth, walking his first two batters on eight pitches and then getting a double play ball that Josh Rodriguez muffed which scored the fifth run for the Astros.
On offense, the Pirates were once again paced by Josh Harrison, who had two hits in four at-bats. That performance actually lowered his spring batting average to .520. Garrett Jones hit a two run home run in the eighth inning, Neil Walker drove in two on a single in the first, and Jose Tabata had two more hits to keep his hot streak alive. It was another solid offensive day for the Pirates, but they were once again let down by the minor league bullpen guys.