And though Odorizzi couldn’t make it through the second inning in his last appearance, the righty posted 3-1/3 innings of work on this fair day, allowing just one run on three hits, while walking two and striking out three.
The presumed number two starter was able to pickoff a runner in the first inning after Alan Hanson walked. Then in the bottom of the second, with a runner on first and no outs, Odorizzi coaxed a double play ground ball out of former Ray John Jaso. Brad Miller made a nice stop on the first base side of first, then threw to Richie Shaffer to start a 6-5-3 double play.
The only run against Odorizzi came when Andrew McCutchen led off the bottom of the fourth inning with a solo blast to left field.
Working primarily on his off-speed stuff ― especially his curveball ― Odorizzi tossed 54 total pitches (31 for strikes). All in all, Odorizzi was pleased with the work he got in, saying,
Getting up and down four times was really good considering I only did it twice last time, Odorizzi said. I’m just trying to experiment with off-speed pitches with two-strike counts, and I think that’s kind of driving my pitch count up a little bit. But at the same time, I’d rather work on it now, where nothing matters besides getting my pitches in, so I’m happy with the progression I made from the last start to this one.
You can hear Odorizzi’s post appearance presser (via the embedded audio player) below.
Left-handed pitching prospect Blake Snell took over in the fifth inning, collecting 1-2/3 scoreless frames. Snell battled his command in his 46 pitch (27 strikes) appearance, walking two and striking out three while allowing three ground ball singles.
This seems to say something about #Rays Snell’s stuff that 2 #Pirates have lost their grip on bat when swinging, and another broke his bat
— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) March 11, 2016
And that’s it for #Rays Snell after another walk. Fair to say you can see the potential, and the need for some more polish
— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) March 11, 2016
Offensively speaking, Motter single handily tied the game in the fifth inning with his first homer of the Grapefruit League season.
Tampa Bay then took the lead in the following frame, when Juan Diaz’s (Pittsburgh’s third baseman) error allowed Brad Miller to reach safely and Desmond Jennings to score. Motter followed with an RBI double to left off Pirates prospect Steven Brault, scoring Curt Casali and giving the Rays a two-run lead.
As for the final result, Pittsburgh rallied to win in the eighth inning against Steve Geltz, who worked a second inning for the first time this spring. Geltz allowed a pair of hits to start the frame, then after an unproductive out, Tampa Bay committed back-to-back throwing errors. Knuckleballer Eddie Gamboa took the mound in relief and allowed a run-scoring hit, giving the Pirates the go-ahead run.
The New What Next
Matt Moore will make his second start of the spring on Saturday, opposite of right-hander Luis Severino and the New York Yankees. Moore threw two innings against Boston on Monday, allowing one run on one hit ― a Mookie Betts leadoff home run. Alex Colome, Xavier Cedeno, Ryan Webb, Dana Eveland and Jhan Marinez will also see action for Tampa Bay. We’ll post the starting lineup upon availability.
Rays 3/12/16 Starting Lineup
Forsythe 2B
Rivera DH
Longoria 3B
Dickerson RF
Jennings LF
Loney 1B
Mahtook CF
Beckham SS
Casali C
Moore LHP
Noteworthiness
― I wrote earlier that Tampa Bay signed RHP David Carpenter, who was released recently by Braves, to a minor league deal. Carpenter has been in the majors four-plus years, also with the Yankees and Nationals. Cash spoke about the acquisition, saying,
It’s a little confusing why he’s available, but we’ll take a chance on him.