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Pittsburgh Pirates Baseball Central

Ortiz and Sandoval homer, Sox top Bucs

BRADENTON, Fla. (AP) - A.J. Burnett had little trouble the first time through Boston's batting order. The second time around was different.Burnett left with runners on in the third inning, David Ortiz and Pablo Sandoval followed with home runs off Ryan Beckman that erased deficit, and the Red Sox beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-1 Thursday.After starting with two hitless innings, Burnett walked Blake Swihart and Shane Victorino opening the third. Dustin Pedroia flied out and Beckman relieved.As Burnett walked off the mound, the 38-year-old right-hander looked at Ortiz and shrugged."Did they ...

Walker blasts homer in Pirates loss to Astros

BRADENTON, Fla. (AP) - Chris Carter was 3 for 3 with two doubles and four RBIs to break out of a spring-training slump and lift the Houston Astros over the Pittsburgh Pirates 13-7 Tuesday.Carter had entered 1 for 13 with two RBIs in the exhibition season.Pirates left-hander Jeff Locke was roughed up for six runs and seven hits in three innings, leaving him with a 9.00 ERA."Left some pitches over the plate and they just fell in," Locke said.Locke is competing for a rotation spot with right-hander Vance Worley, who pitched four scoreless innings Sunday. Locke said the Pirates have given no ...

Liriano named Opening Day starter

BRADENTON, Fla. (AP) - Francisco Liriano is set to start on opening day for Pittsburgh, making him the first Pirates pitcher in quite a while to draw the honor two years in a row.Manager Clint Hurdle made the announcement Tuesday. The Pirates begin the regular season on April 6 at Cincinnati.Liriano will be the first Pirates pitcher to start on opening day in consecutive seasons since Oliver Perez in 2005-06."We just want to put to rest that we've had nine different opening day pitchers in a row," Hurdle said. "We wanted to settle down and kick that one to the curb."The 31-year-old ...

Cervelli hoping to follow in Martin’s footsteps

BRADENTON, Fla. (AP) - When the Pittsburgh Pirates couldn't retain catcher Russell Martin as a free agent catcher last November, they decided to trade for his former backup.The Pirates acquired Francisco Cervelli in a deal from the New York Yankees on Nov. 12 for left-handed reliever Justin Wilson, just days after Martin rejected their $56 million, four-year offer. Cervelli backed up Martin in New York during the 2011-12 seasons.The deal received the seal of approval from Martin, who eventually signed a five-year deal with the Toronto Blue Jays for $82 million."I was actually relieved ...

Tillman strong in Orioles’ 6-4 win over Pirates

SARASOTA, Fla. - Chris Tillman allowed one run in four innings and Adam Jones hit his first home run of the spring in the Baltimore Orioles' 6-4 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday.Tillman, who was last season's opening day starter and is likely to get the call to start at Tampa Bay on April 6, struck out five and didn't walk a batter in his second spring start.In his first, Tillman allowed one hit in two scoreless innings on March 9 against Philadelphia, and he also worked three innings last weekend against the Puerto Rico Development Program.Jones and Ryan Flaherty hit home ...

Cervelli homers twice off Twins’ Gibson

FORT MYERS, Fla. - Francisco Cervelli homered twice off Kyle Gibson on Friday, leading a Pittsburgh Pirates split squad to a 4-2 victory over the Minnesota Twins.Three-time AL batting champion Joe Mauer went 0 for 3 with a strikeout. He is batting .158 in 19 spring at-bats."His at-bats are OK," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "He's not getting a lot of results right now, but I think he's seeing the ball fine so I'm not too concerned about that."Cervelli, who has 10 career homers in parts of seven big league seasons, doubled in his only regular-season at-bat against Gibson."So he's got ...