Pittsburgh Pirates: Archer To Take on the New York Yankees

The Pittsburgh Pirates are starting to get more of what will likely be their opening day roster more playing time.  That includes starters in today’s game.

So far this spring, the Pittsburgh Pirates have won seven games and have lost eight.  This puts them toward the bottom of the standings in the Grape Fruit League this spring.  However, the Pittsburgh Pirates have not played many of their projected starters through the first two weeks of Spring Training thus far.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have played a lot of prospects and given roster bubble and bench players the most amount of playing time.  Players like Starling Marte, Corey Dickerson, and Adam Frazier have not played much.  They have been doing a lot of work on the back fields, and quite honestly are locked in as starters on the team.

Even more so than the position players have been the team’s starters.  So far each of their regular starters have made only one start each so far.  That is going to change today when right-hander and 2018 trade deadline acquisition Chris Archer heads to the mound for his second appearance of the spring.

Archer is going to face the New York Yankees at their field in Tampa.  So far Archer has thrown two innings this spring and had very good results.  The veteran only allowed one base runner on a walk and struck out four batters.  This is definitely something that the Pittsburgh Pirates want to see out of their potential ace, and he hopefully continues it against what looks to be a very good New York Yankees’ lineup.

The Yankees are sending out most of what likely will be their opening day lineup.  The top of the lineup will feature Brett Gardner, Aaron Judge, and Giancarlo Stanton.  Following those three will be Greg Bird, Gleyber Torres, and Troy Tulowitzki.  Opposing Archer on the mound will be former Pittsburgh Pirates starter J.A. Happ.

The Pittsburgh Pirates are sending out a very intriguing lineup to oppose Happ.  The top four in the lineup will be Starling Marte, Jung-Ho Kang, Francisco Cervelli, and Josh Bell.  These four definitely will be in the mix in the top four or five on opening day.  Following those regulars, the team will have offseason acquisitions Melky Cabrera and Erik Gonzalez.  Then the last three hitters will be prospects in Pablo Reyes, Jason Martin, and Bralin Jackson.

The game starts at 1:05 with the Bucs batting first.  The game will not be televised so the best way to keep track will be on mlb.com.  Hopefully, Archer continues to pitch well and continues to take steps forward with what he and Ray Searage have been working on.