McCutchen, Hayes homer in split-squad game

Delay’s single in seventh breaks up tie vs. Minnesota

BRAD EN TON, Fla.—On Tuesday, Andrew Mc Cut chen made his 2024Grapefruit League debut, collecting a single in his first at-bat. Three days later, Mc Cut chen took things a step further, driv-ing a 418- foot homer out to center field for his first ho-mer of the spring. It seems the back-fieldwork out program Mc Cutchen recently lauded has been a smart play. Although some pitching points popped up during the Pirates’ 6-3victory against the Twin sat LE COM Park on Friday, it’ s hard to look past the first spring bomb for McCutchen, as well as a solo shot in the fourth in-ning courtesy of Ke’ B ryan Hayes.Mc Cut chen got a 1-0 sinker in the middle of the plate and did an excellent job creating back-spin. Hayes ripped a two-strike sweeper on a line, ty-ing Henry Davis for the team lead ind inge rs. The Pirates have now hit 24 home runs, six more than any other club, though no-body was taking that bait. The Pirates held a 2-1 lead when Mc Cut chen went deep—turning and laughing at the dugout be-cause manager Derek Shel-ton was going top inch run for Cut ch, jo king it would be better if he went deep—before the Twins scored twice in the seventh to graba 3-2 lead. That’ s when the Pirates rallied. Jason Delay sin-g led home a run in the bot-tom half. Matt Fr aizer’ seigh th-inning double pushed the Pirates back in front for good.

On the mound

In his second spring start after retiring nine of 10 his first time out, Martin Perez continued to build momentum toward the regular season.

The 32-year-old southpaw delivered four scoreless innings, working around a first-inning single, two walks and a hit batter.

One strong sequence came to end the second, when Perez froze left fielder Austin Martin on an inside sinker and got designated hitter Trevor Larnach to swing through BRAD EN TON, Fla.—On Tuesday, Andrew Mc Cutchen made his 2024Grapefruit League debut, collecting a single in his first at-bat. Three days later, Mc Cut chen took things a step further, driv-ing a 418- foot homer out to center field for his first ho-mer of the spring. It seems the back-fieldwork out program McCutchen recently lauded has been a smart play. Although some pitching points popped up during the Pirates’ 6-3victory against the Twin sat LE COM Park on Friday, it’ s hard to look past the first spring bomb for McCutchen, as well as a solo shot in the fourth in-ning courtesy of Ke’ B ryan Hayes.Mc Cut chen got a 1-0 sinker in the middle of the plate and did an excellent job creating back-spin. Hayes ripped a two-strike sweeper on a line, ty-ing Henry Davis for the team lead ind inge rs. The Pirates have now hit 24 home runs, six more than any other club, though no-body was taking that bait. The Pirates held a 2-1 lead when Mc Cutchen went deep—turning and laughing at the dugout be-cause manager Derek Shel-ton was going top inch run for Cut ch, jo king it would be better if he went deep—before the Twins scored twice in the seventh to graba 3-2 lead. That’ s when the Pirates rallied. Jason Delay sin-g led home a run in the bot-tom half. Matt Fr aizer’ seigh th-inning double pushed the Pirates back in front for good.

At the plate

Hayes looks the way he did during the final two months of 2024. After singling in the first — when he tried to turn it into a double and was subsequently thrown out — he cracked his third homer of the spring in the fourth inning.

It came on a 1-2 sweeper down, and in that, Hayes drove over the left-center field fence at 108.4 mph. Most impressive here might be Hayes’ ability to recognize something and adjust.

In North Port

Edward Olivares, Gilberto Celestino and Billy McKinney all finished with two hits, while Canaan Smith- Njigba cranked a two-run homer during the Pirates’ 6-6 tie against the Braves in splitsquad action down in North Port.

Olivares, who had been slumping, raised his average to .182. McKinney doubled and finished with three RBIs, while Celestino — quietly maybe the best offensive performer this spring — was on base four times.

Marco Gonzales started and allowed three runs (two earned) on six hits and a walk in 3 1/3 innings.

Up next

Luis Ortiz will make his third start of the spring on Saturday against the Tigers in Lakeland.