Poor defense and a worse bullpen performance by Colin Holderman and David Bednar leads to a blown lead and a bad Bucco loss in the season opener. Joe Block has the story.
Manager Derek Shelton says poor fielding cost the Pirates the game.
Nick Gonzalez came up limping on his home run trot. Shelton says he took two batted balls off the ankle in an exhibition game against Tampa Bay eight days earlier.
The Bucs will try to even up the series tonight in Miami. In a matchup of right-handers, the Pirates send Mitch Keller to the mound to face the Marlins’ Connor Gillispie. It’s a 6:45 airtime, 7:10 first pitch on WCCS.
The Pirates yesterday put pitcher Jared Jones on the 15-day injured list and first baseman Spencer Horwitz on the ten-day injured list. Despite the short-term injury designations, both are expected to miss significantly more time.
