Phillies rally to beat Bucs, 7-4

Fernando Nieve is not leaving a good impression on the Bucs as he was charged with four runs in the Pirates 7-4 loss over the Phillies at McKechnie Field in Bradenton, Fla.

Nieve, who signed a minor league contract over the offseason, has allowed seven earned runs during two spring training games this season in just 2.1 innings of work.

Kevin Correia started for the Pirates, giving up four straight singles and two earned runs before settling down. He allowed five hits over three innings with five strikeouts.

“I felt like I was throwing the ball a lot better than I was in my last outing,” Correia said. “I just wanted to get a decent result out of it. I didn’t want to go out there and have to come out before my three innings. Everything felt a lot better than my last outing.”

“What I did today is what I’m looking to do,” Correia said. “Minus the first few hits, everything was what I wanted to do. Now it’s a matter of building on that and getting my pitch count up.”

The Pirates started the bottom of the first off with four straight singles as well, off Joe Blanton, making it a 2-1 ballgame.

Tony Sanchez made his grapefruit league debut in the sixth inning (more on Sanchez later tonight) ripping a 2-2 down the third baseline. Andy Marte, doubled to score Walker, giving the Bucs the lead.

The Phillies went on to rally, scoring four runs in the final three innings of the game.

Notes:

• Ronny Cedeno was scratched from the lineup with a sore right middle finger.

Cedeno injured the finger while fielding a grounder in the sixth inning of Thursday’s game against the Blue Jays. The injury is said to be minor, and he should not be out of action for very long.

• With Matt Diaz’s stolen base in the fifth inning, the Pirates swiped their Grapefruit League leading 11th base.
• Evan Meek had a successful session of live batting practice on Friday at Pirate City and is scheduled to pitch one inning in March 7 game against the Tampa Bay Rays. –More on Meek’s bp up in next post.
• Joe Beimel’s throwing program has gone well on both Thursday and Friday and is pitching pain free. Beimel is scheduled to play catch again on Saturday
• The Bucs will face the Phillies again on Saturday in Clearwater. Paul Maholm will get the start followed by Jeff Karstens, Mike Crotta, Sean Gallagher, Chris Leroux and Rudy Owens.

Roy Halladay will start for the Phillies.