The St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-2 in exhibition baseball. Mitch Keller started the game for the Bucs. He allowed one run on three hits over three innings. He walked two and struck out three. The lone run he gave up was a home run in the fourth inning before he left the game.
The Pittsburgh Pirates will have split-squad games this afternoon. They host Philadelphia in Bradenton and travel to Dunedin to face Toronto. Braxton Ashcraft and Bubba Chandler are the expected starters in those games.
The United States team will face Brazil tonight in their opening game of the World Baseball Classic. The game will be televised on FOX beginning at 8pm.
The USA will meet Great Britain Saturday. Paul Skenes is scheduled to start their Monday game.