Pirates Caffeine: Maholm Shines, Hanrahan, Meek Struggle, Doumit Hurt

Pittsburgh Pirates closer Joel Hanrahan

got his yearly rough outing out of the way early last night.  Hanrahan surrended four earned runs on five hits then promptly struck everyone out in his inning of work.  The Bucs came from ahead to lose 11-8 to Baltimore last night in Bradenton.

Evan Meek got in on the action in the sixth inning when J.J. Hardy laced a two-run single off the set-up man and the Orioles scored another run on a Pirates’ error.

Pirates starter Paul Maholm, looking for a bounce back year, pitched well.  Maholm allowed Vlad Guerrero to turn on a slider for a solo wind aided homerun, it was the only blemish on Maholm’s line.  The left hander scattered four hits over four innings.

Andy Marte has been on base in five straight games for the 6-8 Buccos.

"“I was embarrassed for a little bit, there.  You give up five hits in a row, it’s not looking too good. You’re trying to work on things, but there comes a point in time when, ‘Alright, let’s let the competitor part take over, and get some people out.’ I didn’t do that until too late.”–Joel Hanrahan on Pirates website"

 
We have to wonder how much the lack of work impacts Hanrahan.  Don’t be freaked by the outings from the Pirates late inning pitchers.  They will get ramped up very soon as the cuts are coming. 

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Maholm stats:

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In the article below, you will find details on the oblique injury of Ryan Doumit and Ronny Cedeno is working on his body control in order to reduce the number of strikeouts.

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Steve Pearce struckout again last night which isn’t going to help his attempt to make the Pirates opening day roster.

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The Pirates head to Port Charlotte today to take on the Rays at 1:05.   James McDonald will be on the bump against Tampa Bay right-hander Wade Davis.  Also scheduled to pitch are Brian Burres, Daniel Moskos, Justin Thomas and Chris Leroux.

You can hear the game on Pirates.com.