The Pittsburgh Pirates split their pre-season games Monday in Florida. The Pirates defeated Minnesota 4-2 in Bradenton. Paul Skenes started the game and allowed a run on five hits. He walked three and struck out seven. He will make one more spring training start this weekend prior to starting the season opener in Miami on Thursday, March 27th. Pirates pitchers had 16 strikeouts in the game. The Bucs had three home runs in the game from Joey Bart, Ke’Bryan Hayes and Bryan Reynolds.
The Pirates lost their other game 9-6 to Detroit in Lakeland. Bailey Falter made his first appearance in over two weeks, and allowed three earned runs on five hits in 2-1/3rd innings. He walked one and struck out four. Isaiah Kiner-Falefa had three hits in that game. Endy Rodriguez drove in two runs.
The Major League Baseball season officially began this morning with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs opening a two-game series in Japan.