Boston Red Sox 4, Pittsburgh Pirates 3

The Pittsburgh Pirates played the Boston Red Sox in game 19 of their Grapefruit League season on Thursday night

The Pittsburgh Pirates are now 13-6 in Grapefruit League play this spring. This is due to the Pirates falling to the Boston Red Sox by a score of 4-3 on Thursday night. This was the Pirates’ first night game of the spring.

In Thursday night’s game Ivan Nova started for the Pirates. Nova became the first starting pitcher to pitch five innings for the Pittsburgh Pirates this spring. In five innings pitched Nova allowed one run on four hits, no walks, and he struck out five batters. Nova threw 67 pitches, and threw a first pitch strike to 14 of 18 batters faced.

While Ivan Nova’s line was very impressive, he pitched even better than it indicated. In the bottom of the second inning he allowed a two-out triple on a ball that Eury Perez should have caught for the last out of the inning.

Additionally, in the third inning he allowed a pair of softly hit ground ball singles. This included a ball that clanked off shortstop Adam Frazier‘s glove and rolled into the outfield. The Red Sox would score their run off of Nova in the third inning.

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Edgar Santana followed Nova on the mound. Santana allowed one run on one hit and a strikeout in the sixth inning. While the run Santana allowed scored on a wild pitch, the base runner never should have been on base. Brock Holt tripled to lead off the inning on a ball that Perez, once again, should have caught.

Next up for the Pirates on the mound was A.J. Schugel. In his one inning of work Schugel allowed a pair of singles and recorded a strikeout. Schugel continues to show he should make the team out of Spring Training over Jared Hughes.

Dan Runzler pitched the eighth inning for the Pirates. After recording a pair of ground ball outs to start the inning, the wheels came off. He allowed a two-out triple, and then allowed the tying run to score when he failed to field a ground ball by Sam Travis cleanly. On top of not fielding it cleanly, Runzler threw the ball past first base.

He then allowed a double that gave the Red Sox runners on second and third with two outs. Tzu-Wei Lin then gave the Red Sox a 4-3 lead on an infield hit.

Spring Training all-star Jose Osuna remained red hot for the Bucs. He went 2-for-3 with a RBI and a walk. His RBI came in the first inning when he drove in Adam Frazier, who went 1-for-4 on Thursday.

Gift Ngoepe made the start at third base for the Bucs and went 3-for-4 with a RBI. He also played a strong defensive third base.

Josh Bell made the start for the Pirates at first base. However, Bell had a rough day at the plate. He went 0-for-4 with a trio of strikeouts. Phil Gosselin started at second base and went 0-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts, and catcher Elias Diaz went 0-for-4.

Next: Jared Hughes Should Not Make The Opening Day Roster

Next up for the Pirates is a 1:05 PM first pitch at LECOM Park against the Baltimore Orioles on Friday. Drew Hutchison will continue to look to work toward nailing down the fifth starter’s spot as he gets the start for the Bucs. The Orioles will counter with Gabriel Ynoa.

This will be the fourth time this spring the Pirates have faced off against the Orioles, and the third time they have seen Ynoa.

The Pittsburgh Pirates played the Boston Red Sox in game 19 of their Grapefruit League season on Thursday night

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