The story of the day was pitching. Pirates pitchers held a Major League Blue Jay lineup to just one run on nine hits. Jeff Karstens went four innings and gave up just one run on four hits. He struck out one and walked one. Daniel Moskos pitched a scoreless fifth with two strikeouts, and Tim Alderson did the same in the sixth. Kris Johnson and Kyle Cofield even held the Blue Jays off the scoreboard with scoreless eighth and ninth innings.
On offense, the Pirates didn’t do much of anything until late in the game. They scored two runs in the eighth on a Nate McLouth home run, and Matt Hague added an insurance run with yet another home run in the ninth, his seventh of the spring. Jose Tabata also had two hits.
The Pirates head to Philadelphia tomorrow to play two exhibition games with the Phillies on Monday and Tuesday before heading to Pittsburgh for Opening Day on Thursday.