Pirates rout Orioles, surpass win total from last spring training

Derek Shelton started to chuckle before a question was finished being asked about his team’s Grapefruit League record .

“The spring training record does not matter,” Shelton said after the Pittsburgh Pirates improved to 4-3-1 with a 13-1 victory against the visiting Baltimore Orioles on Sunday.

“But it is nice that we’ve won more than three games, I will say that.”

Time will tell whether this year’s Pirates are an improvement over the one that last season had one of the worst winning percentages in franchise history. But one upgrade, for certain, is the number of spring training victories.

Just a week into this spring, the Pirates have eclipsed last season’s total (3-18 record).

“I think that our guys are getting better at paying attention to details is important,” Shelton said in a postgame video conference call with media. “And definitely winning some games and being in games where you’re doing things right helps it. (Saturday), we win a 3-2 game, and today we win a game where we swing the bats and really throw the ball well. So it is important for our guys to be on that (winning) side.”

Sunday Funday!#LetsGoBucs pic.twitter.com/hU0wdN4kEt

— Pirates (@Pirates) March 7, 2021

Adam Frazier went 2 for 3 with a run and an RBI in making his spring debut after missing action because of a minor groin injury. Kevin Newman and Ji-hwan Bae also had two hits, and Dustin Fowler had a three-run double.

Ke’Bryan Hayes extended his spring hitting streak to four games with a double.

Starter JT Brubaker allowed two singles in two innings for the Pirates, who also got scoreless outings from Chase De Jong, Kyle Crick, Chasen Shreve, Clay Holmes and David Bednar. Baltimore’s only run came off two singles and a wild pitch by Richard Rodriguez in the fifth.

“Thought it went good,” Brubaker said of his outing. “Main focus today was just putting the ball in the zone (and) make them swing with the wind blowing in. Really wanted to focus on getting ahead, and once I got ahead, put them away, and then if not, just make them swing the bat.”

Notes: Newman was removed from the game because of a minor injury, a move Shelton called “precautionary.” … The Pirates are off Monday, one of only two days without a game over the 31-day span of spring training.

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