Pirates Bats Stay Hot, But Comeback Attempt Falls Short Against Orioles

The Pirates faced an early six-run deficit and came back to tie the game in the seventh, but their efforts fell just short. Baltimore defeated Pittsburgh 10-9 at LECOM Park on Tuesday.

It was a rough start to Jose Quintana’s spring and Pirates career. The left-hander allowed the first five Orioles to reach — two doubles, a pair of seeing-eye singles and a four-pitch walk quickly gave the Orioles a 4-0 lead. Quintana finished the first after 26 pitches, only 12 of which went for strikes. Quintana allowed a two-run homerun to Kyle Stowers in the second before finishing the inning with a groundout.

JT Brubaker also made his spring debut and looked healthy after some injury issues a season ago. HIs fastball was hovering around 94-95 mph, and picked up three strikeouts in two scoreless innings.

In the third, after a Greg Allen walk and a Ben Gamel single, Cole Tucker gave the Pirates their first run of the game with an RBI knock the other way. Ke’Bryan Hayes and Yoshi Tsutsugo also recorded RBI singles for the Bucs in the inning. Hayes recorded two hits on the afternoon.

Ben Gamel hit an opposite-field homerun off of a 97 mph sinker in the fourth. Almost right as the pitch was being thrown, bench coach Don Kelly said he was heading home after that at-bat to join his wife Lauren for the birth of their first child — congrats to them!

DK: “Ben wanted me to give his wife Lauren a shoutout. He’s going to be leaving after this at-bat. They’re going to have their first child.”

*two seconds later*

Gamel hits a home run 🥺 pic.twitter.com/OkNTnCmSu1

— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) March 22, 2022

On the prospects side of things, Jack Suwinski recorded an RBI triple. Suwinski could work his way to the big leagues this year after getting added to the 40-man roster earlier in the offseason. Diego Castillo and Cal Mitchell both drove in runs in the seventh to tie the game. Mitchell added a stolen base not long after. Carter Bins hit a double in the ninth, and came around to score on a Tucupita Marcano sacrifice fly.

Liover Peguero flashed the leather with a terrific defensive play at shortstop.

Peggy with the play 😮‍💨 pic.twitter.com/tNKncZKld1

— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) March 22, 2022

The Pirates will travel to Lakeland on Wednesday for a matchup with the Detroit Tigers.