PIRATES ROSTER TAKING SHAPE

PITTSBURGH 5, PHILADELPHIA 3

WHEN: 1:05 PM ET, Saturday, March 23, 2019

WHERE: LECOM Park, Bradenton, Florida

TEMPERATURE: 74° 

UMPIRES: Home - Will Little, 1B - Paul Emmel, 2B - John Libka, 3B - John Bacon

ATTENDANCE: 7202

The Pirates optioned right-handers Clay Holmes and Michael Feliz to Triple-A Indianapolis on Thursday morning, removing two more pitchers from their bullpen competition with a week to go before Opening Day.

So what might the Bucs’ relief corps look like when they walk out to the visitors' bullpen at Great American Ball Park on March 28?

The four relievers who established themselves last year as Pittsburgh’s late-inning quartet aren’t going anywhere. Felipe Vázquez is the closer. Keone Kela is the top setup man, followed by right-handers Kyle Crick and Richard Rodríguez.

After that? The Pirates most likely have three spots to fill, with eight potential candidates still in camp. Their options include Nick Burdi, Rookie Davis, Francisco Liriano, Tyler Lyons, Brandon Maurer, Dovydas Neverauskas and two of the three fifth-starter candidates (Jordan Lyles, Nick Kingham and Steven Brault).

Burdi seems to have a good shot to crack the roster -- and not just because of the Rule 5 Draft restrictions that mandate the Bucs must keep him on their active roster for the first 60 days of the season or offer him back to the Twins. Nearly two years removed from Tommy John surgery, the 26-year-old right-hander’s power is back. Burdi has enjoyed an excellent spring, racking up 13 strikeouts while posting a 1.93 ERA in eight appearances.

Burdi pitched in a Minor League game at Pirate City on Thursday after working one inning on Wednesday in Fort Myers. The Pirates typically want their relievers to pitch on back-to-back days before breaking camp.

Lyles is the presumptive favorite to round out the rotation; if he doesn’t, he’ll have a spot in the bullpen. Kingham is out of Minor League options, increasing his odds of being a long reliever if he’s not the fifth starter. Brault has an option remaining, which makes him a candidate for the Major League rotation and bullpen as well as Triple-A Indianapolis' rotation.

That likely leaves one spot for Davis, Liriano, Lyons, Maurer or Neverauskas. The Bucs must soon make a decision regarding Liriano, Lyons and Maurer, a trio of experienced relievers in camp on Minor League non-roster contracts. Liriano and Lyons may be the front-runners as lefties who have had recent success in the Majors.

Aside from a four-walk, no-out appearance in Tampa on March 10, Liriano has had a fine spring. Lyons gave up eight runs over two outings from March 9-12, but he has strung together three consecutive scoreless appearances, including Thursday's two-strikeout performance in 1 1/3 innings at LECOM Park.

INJURY UPDATE

• Center fielder Starling Marte was scratched from Thursday’s lineup due to lower back tightness. The Pirates said that Marte’s removal was precautionary and have listed his status as day to day.

• Catcher Jacob Stallings, who exited Wednesday’s game early due to neck tightness, is scheduled to be back behind the plate on Friday.

GAME REPORT

• Chris Archer cruised through three innings against the Orioles on Thursday before running into trouble in the fourth, during a sequence that went home run, strikeout, double, double, walk, sacrifice fly, walk, walk. Archer appeared to have the last two hitters struck out, but he didn't get the calls. Overall, he allowed three runs on four hits and three walks while striking out six in 3 2/3 innings.

• After being scored on in each of his last three outings, Crick rebounded by striking out two in a perfect sixth inning. Crick threw only eight pitches, including seven strikes.

• Jung Ho Kang entered the game with five hits on the spring, all of them home runs. He snapped that homers-only streak in the second inning, knocking a double down the left-field line. But he went deep again in the ninth, bashing a walk-off grand slam to right-center field to give the Bucs a 7-5 win.

Four days after being named the Pirates’ starting third baseman, Kang will start at shortstop against the Rays on Friday. Hurdle said the Bucs want to evaluate their “emergency” options at a number of positions, and Kang has plenty of previous experience at shortstop.

AROUND THE HORN

• Huntington reiterated that Lyles has the “inside track” for the final spot in Pittsburgh’s rotation. Lyles gave up three runs on seven hits and struck out five over five innings in the Pirates’ 5-3 win over the Phillies on Saturday at LECOM Park. Lyles will need to make one more start, of six innings or 100 pitches, before he’s ready for the regular season.

• Opening Day starter Jameson Taillon started the Pirates’ 12-3 split-squad loss to the Red Sox in Fort Myers on Saturday. In his final tune-up for Thursday, Taillon allowed four runs on eight hits over four innings.

• Shortstop prospect Oneil Cruz started for the Pirates at LECOM Park initiated two double plays and mashed a home run over the boardwalk beyond the right-center-field fence. The 6-foot-6, 20-year-old is Pittsburgh’s No. 4 prospect, according to MLB Pipeline, and No. 95 overall.

UP NEXT

The Pirates will wrap up their Grapefruit League schedule Sunday with a 1:05 p.m. ET game against the Orioles at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota. Trevor Williams will start for Pittsburgh. Nick Kingham and Steven Brault are also scheduled to pitch before the Bucs break camp and fly to Houston. The game will air on KDKA-FM and the Pirates Radio Network.

SCORING SUMMARY

INNING				PHI	PIT
Pirates		1st	Cervelli doubled to deep center, P. Reyes scored.	0	1
Phillies		2nd	Gosselin homered to right.	1	1
Phillies		2nd	Eflin singled to right center, Robinson scored and Adams scored.	3	1
Pirates		3rd	Dickerson homered to right, Shuck scored.	3	3
Pirates		5th	Cruz homered to right.	3	4
Pirates		6th	Chisenhall singled to right, Craig scored, Chisenhall thrown out at second.	3	5

FINAL SCORING SUMMARY

FINAL	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Philadelphia	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	8	0
Pittsburgh	1	0	2	0	1	1	0	0	-	5	7	0

PHILADELPHIA

HITTERS	POS	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	LOB	AVG
Jean Segura	SS	4	0	0	0	0	1	1	.239
Jose Gomez	SS	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Cesar Hernandez	2B	4	0	2	0	0	0	0	.200
Gift Ngoepe	2B	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.158
Aaron Altherr	CF	3	0	0	0	0	1	2	.225
Corbin Williams	LF	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000
J.T. Realmuto	C	3	0	0	0	0	1	2	.378
Rob Brantly	C	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.450
Sean Rodriguez	1B	3	0	0	0	1	2	0	.067
Phil Gosselin	3B	3	1	2	1	1	0	1	.410
Shane Robinson	LF	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	.304
Malvin Matos	LF-CF	2	0	0	0	0	1	1	.000
Lane Adams	RF	3	1	2	0	0	0	2	.297
Zach Eflin	SP	2	0	1	2	0	1	2	.500
Victor Arano	RP	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Matt McBride	PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.179
Edubray Ramos	RP	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Yacksel Rios	RP	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Totals		31	3	8	3	2	9	12
Batting
2B - Cesar Hernandez (1), Lane Adams (1)
HR - Phil Gosselin (2)
TB - Cesar Hernandez 3, Phil Gosselin 5, Shane Robinson, Lane Adams 3, Zach Eflin
RBI - Phil Gosselin (6), Zach Eflin 2 (2)
2-Out RBI - Phil Gosselin (3), Zach Eflin 2 (2)
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - J.T. Realmuto (5), Zach Eflin (1)
GIDP - J.T. Realmuto (2), Malvin Matos (1), Matt McBride (2)
Team LOB - 4
Fielding
Outfield Assists - Lane Adams (Chisenhall at 2nd)

Pitchers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	ERA
Zach Eflin (L 1-2)	5.1	5	4	4	0	6	2	3.98
Victor Arano	0.2	1	1	1	1	0	0	36.00
Edubray Ramos	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	0	6.75
Yacksel Rios	1.0	1	0	0	1	0	0	0.82
WP - Victor Arano, Yacksel Rios
Pitches-Strikes - Zach Eflin 41-36, Victor Arano 7-2, Edubray Ramos 5-5, Yacksel Rios 9-4
Ground Balls-Fly Balls - Zach Eflin 6-3, Victor Arano 0-1, Edubray Ramos 2-0, Yacksel Rios 1-1
Batters Faced - Zach Eflin 21, Victor Arano 3, Edubray Ramos 3, Yacksel Rios 4

PITTSBURGH

Hitters	Pos	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	LOB	Avg
Pablo Reyes	2B	3	1	1	0	1	0	0	.312
J.B. Shuck	CF	3	1	1	0	0	0	1	.341
Keone Kela	RP	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Jose Osuna	PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.162
Felipe Vazquez	RP	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Corey Dickerson	LF	4	1	2	2	0	1	1	.424
Francisco Cervelli	C	4	0	1	1	0	0	1	.256
Will Craig	1B	2	1	0	0	1	2	1	.269
Lonnie Chisenhall	RF	3	0	1	1	0	2	0	.188
Patrick Kivlehan	3B	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	.229
Oneil Cruz	SS	3	1	1	1	0	0	0	.222
Jordan Lyles	SP	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000
Melky Cabrera	PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.302
Richard Rodriguez	RP	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Kyle Crick	RP	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Jonah Davis	PH-CF	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.400
Totals		29	5	7	5	2	7	4
Batting
2B - Corey Dickerson (4), Francisco Cervelli (1)
HR - Corey Dickerson (3), Oneil Cruz (2)
TB - Pablo Reyes, J.B. Shuck, Corey Dickerson 6, Francisco Cervelli 2, Lonnie Chisenhall, Oneil Cruz 4
RBI - Corey Dickerson 2 (7), Francisco Cervelli (4), Lonnie Chisenhall (1), Oneil Cruz (3)
2-Out RBI - Corey Dickerson 2 (5), Francisco Cervelli (1), Lonnie Chisenhall (1)
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - Francisco Cervelli (2), Will Craig (3)
Team LOB - 2
Baserunning
CS - Pablo Reyes (3, 2nd by Rios/Brantly)
SB - Pablo Reyes (3, 2nd off Eflin/Realmuto)

Pitchers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	ERA
Jordan Lyles (W 1-0)	5.0	7	3	3	0	5	1	5.06
Richard Rodriguez (H 4)	1.0	0	0	0	1	1	0	1.42
Kyle Crick (H 3)	1.0	1	0	0	0	0	0	8.53
Keone Kela (H 3)	1.0	0	0	0	0	2	0	6.00
Felipe Vazquez (SV 1)	1.0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0.00
HBP - Shane Robinson (by Lyles)
Pitches-Strikes - Jordan Lyles 38-33, Richard Rodriguez 8-4, Kyle Crick 3-3, Keone Kela 7-7, Felipe Vazquez 8-4
Ground Balls-Fly Balls - Jordan Lyles 3-3, Richard Rodriguez 0-0, Kyle Crick 1-0, Keone Kela 0-0, Felipe Vazquez 1-0
Batters Faced - Jordan Lyles 22, Richard Rodriguez 3, Kyle Crick 3, Keone Kela 3, Felipe Vazquez 3