Zach Thompson Shined, Diego Castillo Homered Again in Pirates Tie With Orioles

Zach Thompson had his strongest outing of the spring, in the Pirates 4-4 tie with the Orioles on a windy day at LECOM Park in Bradenton on Thursday.

Thompson was in complete control throughout his outing. He was commanding all of his pitches and was being aggressive in the zone. He allowed three hits, walked one and struck out four over four scoreless frames. 38 of his 60 pitches went for strikes.

Thompson is expected to have a spot in the Pirates rotation when the club breaks camp next week. In three starts on the spring, the right-hander has allowed three runs on seven hits in nine innings. He’s walked three, struck out nine and has held opponents to a .212 batting average against.

Diego Castillo continued his impressive spring with another home run, his third in the last two games. The 24-year-old is making a serious push to crack the Opening Day roster one week from the start of the regular season, and could be a candidate to start at second base.

Go Diego Go!!! pic.twitter.com/nLA2TXdROx

— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) March 31, 2022

Bryan Reynolds, who was the subject of some trade speculation on Thursday morning, hit his second home run of the spring in the third to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead. Pirates chairman Bob Nutting was in attendance along with team president Travis Williams, who both gave Reynolds a round of applause.

No doubter. pic.twitter.com/xaVvtlTIEo

— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) March 31, 2022

2020 first rounder Nick Gonzales smacked an RBI double off the right-center field wall in the eighth. One batter later, Jared Triolo tied the game at four with a sacrifice fly.

Greg Allen again showed off his magnet-like ability by getting plunked with a pitch for the fourth time thins spring. He also added his fourth stolen base of the spring, this one a steal of third on an attempted pickoff to second. Ben Gamel collected a pair of hits, including a double. He’s hitting .385 this spring.

Adonis Medina made his Pirates debut but faced his fair share of issues. He allowed five straight batters to reach on four hits and a walk, resulting in two runs scored. It looked like he was going to get out of the inning on an infield popup, but the strong winds helped the ball land untouched in fair ground, resulting in two more runs scored.

The Bucs kickoff April by hosting the Blue Jays at LECOM Park on Friday. First pitch is 1:05.