Pirates Charlie Morton Continues Strong Spring

It took a while, but Pittsburgh Pirtaes right hander Charlie Morton gave up a hit. The Detroit Tigers Don Kelly ripped a double to be the first big leaguer to earn a hit off the Buccos ground ball machine.  Morton fired three innings in Lakeland today and recorded five groundball outs allowing no runs and just the one hit.

The Pirates got him a few runs of support early for Ground Chuck too.

Gregory Polanco looks tough at the plate.  The Buccos top hitting prospect battled Tigers starter Rick Porcello and worked an infield single in the first inning.

Josh Harrison lead off the inning with a hustling double and then Jaff Decker brought him home with a safety squeeze that gave the Bucs an early lead.  Decker hustled it out and that would eventually bring Polanco back to the plate.

The Bucs had him batting in the third spot and it paid dividends when the lanky centerfielder ripped a double that plated Decker.  Two nice at-bats for Polanco against Tigers starter Rick Porcello sure does give Buccos fans a lot to look forward to in 2014.

Pedro Alvarez had another productive at-bat with an RBI groundout that chased home Jose Tabata to set the score at 3-0 for Bucs starter.

The Pirates starters have been damn good this week.  Even though the news about Jeff Locke having soreness in his right side sounds bad, we think Locke will work his way back into the mix.

Heh, a ground chuckin’ Charlie Morton and a hot Buccos offense gets us in a good mood….so since we always enjoy listening to the work of Greg Mercer.  Hit it.

"“Traded for a little runt…."