Pittsburgh Pirates: Takeaways from Game 5 of MLB Spring Training
By Derek Snyder
The Pittsburgh Pirates and Atlanta Braves squared off on Tuesday, February 27th in the Bucs’ fifth 2018 MLB Spring Training game of the season.
The Pittsburgh Pirates had the opportunity to face the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday afternoon, in a battle between to ball-clubs looking to improve their 2018 Spring Training record. While the Bucs weren’t able to pick-up their first win of their preseason schedule, they did at least give us a great game and eventually tie with Atlanta.
Now sitting with an unusual 0-3-2 record through five games, Pittsburgh is still searching for their first win. We knew this team could potentially struggle in the regular season, but who thought they would have so much trouble winning games in Spring Training?
Still, we all know that these games, thankfully, don’t count for anything. If the Pirates are going to lose ball-games, we would all rather them drop a few in February.
Box Score:
Highs:
Infielder Eric Wood played first-base for the Pirates on Tuesday afternoon and finished the day with a pretty solid stat-line. The 25-year-old only had one hit, but his double drove in two runs that opened up the scoring for Pittsburgh. Now that Wood is hitting .333 in the early parts of the team’s preseason schedule, he’s making a great case to become one of the Pirates utility players by Opening Day.
Lows:
I feel like each Spring Training game has given us something to complain about; nevertheless, this case was no different, as the Pirates pitchers didn’t get the job done on Tuesday. Yes, they only gave up a total of three runs, but those were given up each time the Pirates scored in the top-half of the inning. Winning baseball games is hard enough, but life becomes even harder when the bullpen can’t keep their team ahead.
Next: Trade for Corey Dickerson was huge move for Pirates
Now with an 0-3-2 record heading into Tuesday afternoon, the Pirates’ attention will be placed back on the Boston Red Sox. If you want to take a look at MLB’s preview for Red Sox vs Bucs at 1:00 PM on Wednesday, you can take a look at it here.