The Cardinals beat the Marlins 2-1 thanks to a sacrifice fly and an error that led to both St. Louis runs. That was all they needed as Joel Pineiro continues to look sharp this spring tossing another six scoreless innings.
Pineiro gave up just three hits while striking out five. Pineiro will make one more start in Memphis this weekend prior to the season, but he’s been happy with his pitching this spring thanks in part to getting a head start on his training and throwing as he prepared for the World Baseball Classic.
Colby Rasmus, who still may be on the roster bubble, scored from third base on a throwing error by Cameron Maybin with one out in the ninth inning to end the game. Khalil Greene’s single advanced Rasmus to third, and when Maybin’s throw to the plate got away from the catcher, Rasmus scored.
The Cardinals scored their first run on a sacrifice fly from Joe Mather that scored Brian Barden. That one run held up until the 8th inning until Dennys Reyes gave up a run to the Marlins in the 8th.
Listen to Pineiro’s postgame interview.
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Pineiro near perfect in final Florida start
Royals, Cubs tie 8-8
The Royals have hit more spring training home runs than any other team this spring and they continued that trend against the Cubs. Alex Gordon went deep twice and Mark Teahen hit his 6 th homer, but they tied Chicago 8-8.
Billy Butler’s RBI single, following singles by David DeJesus and Willie Bloomquist, snapped a 5-5 tie in the eighth. Gordon then hit a high fly to center that was dropped by center fielder Kosuke Fukudome allowing two runs to score on an error.
However, closer Joakim Soria came in with a chance to save the game, but blew the 8-5 lead in the ninth by giving up three runs on four hits and a walk. Royals and Cubs tie at 8.
Kyle Davies, who is expected to start the season’s third game at Chicago, had his longest outing of the spring, 5 2/3 innings. He was charged with four runs on eight hits.
Listen to manager Trey Hillman as he talks about Gordon’s timing and the pitching of Davies and Soria.
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Greinke not concerned with spring shellings
Zach Greinke called it his second best outing of the spring, telling kcroyals.com, "stupid pitching maybe, but I was locating decent." Greinke gave up eight runs in two innings, but the Royals beat Seattle 17-12.
Greinke, who will start the second game of the regular season, had a seven-run lead going into the second inning and a one-run deficit when the inning finally ended. He surrendered 10 hits and eight runs in the inning.
The bats were there all game for Kansas City. Shortstop Tony Pena hit a two-run homer, and pinch-hitter Ryan Shealy topped off a nine run seventh inning with a three run blast.
Second baseman Alberto Callaspo went 4-for-5 with three doubles. Center fielder Coco Crisp went 3-for-4 and scored two runs and second baseman added three hits and two RBIs. Jose Guillen went 2-for-3 and drove in two runs. Third baseman Alex Gordon went 2-for-3, scored a run and drove in one with his third spring home run.
Carpenter gives up first earned runs of the spring
It wasn’t as bad as his line score may look and there is no need to panic. Chris Carpenter will be just fine after yesterday’s 4.2 innings and four runs given up in the Cardinals 5-3 loss to the Minnesota Twins.
Carpenter gave up seven hits and two walks, but at least three of those hits were not very hard and one was an infield single that led to a big inning. The upside to Carpenter’s appearance was that he also struck out seven hitters.
As the Cardinals come down to the final week of spring training, there are still two big issues that need to be resolved. The first is third base. It appears that David Freese has the inside track over Joe Mather. Freese had four hits and a couple of RBIs this weekend. He even played first base yesterday while Mather covered third. Mather had two hits to break out of a 1 for 28 slump, but will it be enough to overtake Freese.
The other pressing issue for manager Tony LaRussa is the final right handed spot in the bullpen. It appeared a couple of weeks ago, Chris Perez would be in Memphis, but he has bounced back from shoulder discomfort early in the spring to have two good back to back outings. LaRussa will carry five righties to go with Dennys Reyes and Trever Miller from the left side. Joining Perez in that battle from the right side is Jason Motte, Ryan Franklin, Kyle McClellan, Josh Kinney and Brad Thompson.
One of those pitchers will be left out. Right now, I’m figuring McClellan will be the odd man out. He’s struggled this spring giving up another earned run in two innings on Saturday. His ERA is 9.69.
Ponson makes first start with Royals
Sidney Ponson arrived in Royals camp to compete with Brian Bannister, Horacio Ramirez and Luke Hochevar for the two final spots in the starting rotation. He threw 87 pitches and left with a 7-4 lead, but the Royals fall 10-9 to Seattle.
Ponson gave up eight hits and six runs (four earned) while going 5.1 innings. Mike Aviles put the Royals on top with a three run home to make the game 7-4, but reliever Victor Marte gave up two hits and the Mariners tied the game. Former Royals player Mike Sweeney drove in the game winner with a single in the bottom of the ninth.
