• Who: Pirates (12-9) vs. Twins (9-11) • When: 1:05 p.m. • What: Grapefruit League exhibition • Where: LECOM Park • Weather: 67°, clear • Pitchers: RHP Paul Skenes vs. RHP Joe Ryan • TV: SportsNet Pittsburgh • Streaming:MLB Network • Radio: 100.1 FM/AM 1020 • Satellite: SiriusXM 861 • Boxscore: MLB.com
► FOLLOW ALONG
• Final is 4-2, sorry guys I was in the clubhouse for the last frame. Outside of the home run Dennis Santana gave up, the bullpen was clean again, just one hit and five pitchers combined for nine strikeouts, including three each by both Ryan Borucki and Caleb Ferguson.
• Triolo strikes out swinging but Yorke advances to second on the past ball before Solak flies out to center to end the inning.
• Yorke follows it up with a single to right center. Made decent contact there and hit it where he likes to.
• Hayes sends a soft ground ball back to the mound for an easy first out.
• A changeup drops out of the bottom of the zone for Santana's first strikeout of the afternoon and then he turns a double play on a comebacker to the mound.
• Santana then delivers a six-pitch walk to Jeffers. Not the greatest outing so far for a guy that has been pretty clean for most of spring training.
• HOME RUN: Wallner gets ahold of a slider low in the zone and sends it over the boardwalk in right field. He got ALL of that. Pirates, 4-2.
• McCutchen strands Griffin at second when he swings over a low sinker in a 2-2 count.
• Griffin showcases his speed and steals second base, almost slid off the bag on the back end. Bart struck out on the pitch.
• Griffin reaches on an infield ground ball after Miranda's foot came off the bag at first.
• HOME RUN: Bryan Reynolds homers to the boardwalk in right center field. Pirates, 4-1.
• Caleb Ferguson works easily through an inning of work with three straight strikeouts, threw 17 pitches, got five whiffs.
• Solak grounds out to shortstop and Triolo is thrown out attempting to steal third. We head to the sixth.
• Yorke strikes out on an 0-2 curveball and Triolo walks before stealing second.
• After a fly out to right, Skenes fields his position to work a quick fifth up. Only threw six pitches with Miranda and Julien swing at the first pitch.
• Skenes is back on for the fifth and gets Larnach to roll over on one to first base. Had him in a 2-2 count and went to a sinker.
• It's a 6-3 groundout for Hayes to end the fourth. Pirates, 3-1.
• HOME RUN: Joey Bart sends a shot to the boardwalk in right field. Pirates, 3-1.
• Dombkowski gets out of it by striking out Castro with a high fastball.
• Dombkowski walks Jeffers to load the bases on five pitches.
• Nick Dombkowski relieves Skenes.
• Brooks Lee steals second before Skenes walks Wallner and it looks like Skenes is done for the day unless he comes back out in the fifth. He threw 79 pitches. Heavy dose of fastballs and sinkers.
• Skenes changes up his pace and catches Ford looking with a slider at the bottom of the zone. That's No. 7.
• Keirsey is Skenes' sixth strikeout victim of the day with a changeup down in the zone.
• Not the cleanest outing today for Skenes, he records his second walk on five pitches.
• A 6-3 ground out for Reynolds ends the third inning and Skenes is back up for the fourth.
• Pham then sends one out to center field for a line out. Pirates only have two hits today through 2 2/3.
• Solak catches all of one and sends it out to the left field wall and it gets reeled in.
• Skenes gets a pop out and a ground ball to get out of that inning. He's up to 60 pitches through three and seems to be a little wild today as he's been all over the strike zone.
• Reynolds pull up on a soft shot to right field, was kind of an in-betweener, not sure if he could've gotten to that one. But there's now runners on first and second and Skenes will face a little more adversity.
• Skenes walks Castro on four straight pitches after a strike call gets overturned on the third pitch.
• A weak groundball starts off the third inning, an easy 5-3 putout.
• Yorke gets ahold of one and sends it to right, but he's erased by a 6-4-3 groundball from Triolo.
• HOME RUN: Ke'Bryan Hayes catches a sweeper on the outside half and goes the opposite way with it, sending it into the Pirates bullpen in right field. Pirates, 2-1.
• McCutchen strikes out on a 91 mph fastball. He's been doing that all afternoon.
• Bart is the Pirates' first baserunner of the day as he draws a leadoff walk.
• Skenes strikes out Wallner again for his fifth of the day. He's up to 43 pitches through two innings.
• RUN:Mike Ford was all over the fastball there and sent it to the right center wall to score Julien. Twins, 1-0.
• Five outs, four strikeouts for Skenes. Just overpowering the Twins with his fastball at times and mixing in the offspeed stuff.
• Brooks Lee then records a 4-3 groundout to Nick Solak. Julien advances to third.
• Julien singles through a hole at shortstop and an errant pickoff attempt allows him to advanced to second. Looks like Yorke struggled there to receive it.
• Another swinging strikeout for the Pirates as Oneil Cruz goes down on a fastball up and in.
• Ryan sneaks a fastball past Reynolds up and in after working to a full count. Tough pitch Reynolds swung at.
• Leadoff strikeout for Tommy Pham. Ryan got him on a sweeper at the top of the zone.
• I would assume Skenes would like a few pitches back, threw 23 pitches to get through that inning, which is something he's wanted to limit as he tries to get more efficient.
• Skenes brings the heat for his third strikeout, a 98 mph fastball that Jose Miranda foul tips into Joey Bart's glove.
• Trevor Larnach gets ahold of a fastball up and in and sends it back toward Skenes and into centerfield. 105.4 exit velocity on that one.
• Skenes records his second strikeout on a four-seam bastall, he gets Willi Castro swinging.
• Jeffers sends a flare out to right centerfield on a sweep on the inside of the zone.
• To celebrate the holiday, the Pirates have placed green dirt in the batters boxes.
• Skenes just burned Wallner back with a 100 mph fastball before striking him out on a foul tip. Drew a nice reaction from the fans.
• First pitch: Pirates vs. Twins, Paul Skenes to Matt Wallner, LECOM Park, 1:05 p.m., 66 degrees, clear, 21 mph NW winds
• Caleb Ferguson, Dennis Santana, Tanner Rainey and Ryan Borucki are all expected to pitch today after Paul Skenes.
• Looks like pretty healthy split of vets and fringe guys between the two games today, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Jack Suwinski, Nick Gonzales, Endy Rodriguez and Ji-Hwan Bae are all headed to Lakeland, Fla. for today's split-squad game against the Tigers.
• We get Tommy Pham hitting in the leadoff spot, Jared Triolo at shortstop and Joey Bart behind the dish for Paul Skenes. Nick Yorke is also starting at first.
• Pirates lineup:
• Twins lineup:
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THE ASYLUM
Greg Macafee
1:25 am - 03.17.2025Bradenton, Fla.Final: Pirates 4, Twins 2
• Who: Pirates (12-9) vs. Twins (9-11)
• When: 1:05 p.m.
• What: Grapefruit League exhibition
• Where: LECOM Park
• Weather: 67°, clear
• Pitchers: RHP Paul Skenes vs. RHP Joe Ryan
• TV: SportsNet Pittsburgh
• Streaming: MLB Network
• Radio: 100.1 FM/AM 1020
• Satellite: SiriusXM 861
• Boxscore: MLB.com
► FOLLOW ALONG
• Final is 4-2, sorry guys I was in the clubhouse for the last frame. Outside of the home run Dennis Santana gave up, the bullpen was clean again, just one hit and five pitchers combined for nine strikeouts, including three each by both Ryan Borucki and Caleb Ferguson.
• Triolo strikes out swinging but Yorke advances to second on the past ball before Solak flies out to center to end the inning.
• Yorke follows it up with a single to right center. Made decent contact there and hit it where he likes to.
• Hayes sends a soft ground ball back to the mound for an easy first out.
• A changeup drops out of the bottom of the zone for Santana's first strikeout of the afternoon and then he turns a double play on a comebacker to the mound.
• Santana then delivers a six-pitch walk to Jeffers. Not the greatest outing so far for a guy that has been pretty clean for most of spring training.
• HOME RUN: Wallner gets ahold of a slider low in the zone and sends it over the boardwalk in right field. He got ALL of that. Pirates, 4-2.
• McCutchen strands Griffin at second when he swings over a low sinker in a 2-2 count.
• Griffin showcases his speed and steals second base, almost slid off the bag on the back end. Bart struck out on the pitch.
• Griffin reaches on an infield ground ball after Miranda's foot came off the bag at first.
• HOME RUN: Bryan Reynolds homers to the boardwalk in right center field. Pirates, 4-1.
• Caleb Ferguson works easily through an inning of work with three straight strikeouts, threw 17 pitches, got five whiffs.
• Solak grounds out to shortstop and Triolo is thrown out attempting to steal third. We head to the sixth.
• Yorke strikes out on an 0-2 curveball and Triolo walks before stealing second.
• After a fly out to right, Skenes fields his position to work a quick fifth up. Only threw six pitches with Miranda and Julien swing at the first pitch.
• Skenes is back on for the fifth and gets Larnach to roll over on one to first base. Had him in a 2-2 count and went to a sinker.
• It's a 6-3 groundout for Hayes to end the fourth. Pirates, 3-1.
• HOME RUN: Joey Bart sends a shot to the boardwalk in right field. Pirates, 3-1.
• Dombkowski gets out of it by striking out Castro with a high fastball.
• Dombkowski walks Jeffers to load the bases on five pitches.
• Nick Dombkowski relieves Skenes.
• Brooks Lee steals second before Skenes walks Wallner and it looks like Skenes is done for the day unless he comes back out in the fifth. He threw 79 pitches. Heavy dose of fastballs and sinkers.
• Skenes changes up his pace and catches Ford looking with a slider at the bottom of the zone. That's No. 7.
• Keirsey is Skenes' sixth strikeout victim of the day with a changeup down in the zone.
• Not the cleanest outing today for Skenes, he records his second walk on five pitches.
• A 6-3 ground out for Reynolds ends the third inning and Skenes is back up for the fourth.
• Pham then sends one out to center field for a line out. Pirates only have two hits today through 2 2/3.
• Solak catches all of one and sends it out to the left field wall and it gets reeled in.
• Skenes gets a pop out and a ground ball to get out of that inning. He's up to 60 pitches through three and seems to be a little wild today as he's been all over the strike zone.
• Reynolds pull up on a soft shot to right field, was kind of an in-betweener, not sure if he could've gotten to that one. But there's now runners on first and second and Skenes will face a little more adversity.
• Skenes walks Castro on four straight pitches after a strike call gets overturned on the third pitch.
• A weak groundball starts off the third inning, an easy 5-3 putout.
• Yorke gets ahold of one and sends it to right, but he's erased by a 6-4-3 groundball from Triolo.
• HOME RUN: Ke'Bryan Hayes catches a sweeper on the outside half and goes the opposite way with it, sending it into the Pirates bullpen in right field. Pirates, 2-1.
• McCutchen strikes out on a 91 mph fastball. He's been doing that all afternoon.
• Bart is the Pirates' first baserunner of the day as he draws a leadoff walk.
• Skenes strikes out Wallner again for his fifth of the day. He's up to 43 pitches through two innings.
• RUN: Mike Ford was all over the fastball there and sent it to the right center wall to score Julien. Twins, 1-0.
• Five outs, four strikeouts for Skenes. Just overpowering the Twins with his fastball at times and mixing in the offspeed stuff.
• Brooks Lee then records a 4-3 groundout to Nick Solak. Julien advances to third.
• Julien singles through a hole at shortstop and an errant pickoff attempt allows him to advanced to second. Looks like Yorke struggled there to receive it.
• Another swinging strikeout for the Pirates as Oneil Cruz goes down on a fastball up and in.
• Ryan sneaks a fastball past Reynolds up and in after working to a full count. Tough pitch Reynolds swung at.
• Leadoff strikeout for Tommy Pham. Ryan got him on a sweeper at the top of the zone.
• I would assume Skenes would like a few pitches back, threw 23 pitches to get through that inning, which is something he's wanted to limit as he tries to get more efficient.
• Skenes brings the heat for his third strikeout, a 98 mph fastball that Jose Miranda foul tips into Joey Bart's glove.
• Trevor Larnach gets ahold of a fastball up and in and sends it back toward Skenes and into centerfield. 105.4 exit velocity on that one.
• Skenes records his second strikeout on a four-seam bastall, he gets Willi Castro swinging.
• Jeffers sends a flare out to right centerfield on a sweep on the inside of the zone.
• To celebrate the holiday, the Pirates have placed green dirt in the batters boxes.
• Skenes just burned Wallner back with a 100 mph fastball before striking him out on a foul tip. Drew a nice reaction from the fans.
• First pitch: Pirates vs. Twins, Paul Skenes to Matt Wallner, LECOM Park, 1:05 p.m., 66 degrees, clear, 21 mph NW winds
• Caleb Ferguson, Dennis Santana, Tanner Rainey and Ryan Borucki are all expected to pitch today after Paul Skenes.
• Looks like pretty healthy split of vets and fringe guys between the two games today, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Jack Suwinski, Nick Gonzales, Endy Rodriguez and Ji-Hwan Bae are all headed to Lakeland, Fla. for today's split-squad game against the Tigers.
• We get Tommy Pham hitting in the leadoff spot, Jared Triolo at shortstop and Joey Bart behind the dish for Paul Skenes. Nick Yorke is also starting at first.
• Pirates lineup:
• Twins lineup:
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