North Shore Nine

The Pirates won today, moving to 7-10 on the Spring, by defeating the Braves 5-1 at LECOM Park in Bradenton.

Chase Anderson started for the Pirates throwing three perfect innings. In the bottom of the 1st Oneil Cruz hit his 4th homerun of the Spring to give the Pirates the lead. Colin Holderman squandered that lead in his one inning of work allowing the Braves to knot the game at 1-1.

Josh Fleming followed Holderman, pitching two perfect innings of his own. Jack Suwinski put the Pirates back on top in the 6th with his 2nd homerun of the spring, and his second extra base hit of the game. Later in the inning Billy McKinney made his mark on the game, and on the 4th OF speculation, with a 408 foot homerun giving the Pirates a 5-1 lead.

Ryan Borucki followed with a clean 7th, he continues to look dialed in this spring. Kyle Nicolas pitched the eighth, getting two quick outs before surrendering two walks. But he was able to strike out the last batter he faced to get through the inning unscathed. Wily Peralta came in to pitch a perfect ninth to close it out for the Pirates.

The Pirates return to action tomorrow against the Toronto Blue Jays. The game will be at 1:07 PM at TD Ballpark in Dunedin FL. Roansy Contreras and Chris Bassitt are the expected starters.