Tyler Anderson stretched out but Derek Shelton mum on Pirates' Opening Day starting pitcher

If Tyler Anderson is lined up to be the Opening Day starting pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Derek Shelton isn’t saying.

When asked if he was ready to name his starter for the April 1 opener against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, the Pirates manager gave a quick “no” for an answer and even added a “nice try, though” with a sly smile.

What Shelton did offer is that Anderson is stretched out for the season, throwing two innings on a back field after pitching the first four of a 5-2 loss to the Detroit Tigers on Friday afternoon in a Grapefruit League game at LECOM Park in Bradenton, Fla.

Anderson, a 31-year-old left-hander signed as a free agent by the Pirates last month to a $2.5 million contract, allowed one run on three hits and two walks on 52 pitches in four innings before being replaced by Trevor Cahill. Anderson surrendered his only run to the first batter he faced, when Robbie Grossman drove a 2-1 fastball over the left-field fence for a 1-0 Tigers lead in the first inning.

“He gave up the home run early to Grossman, but he continued to execute pitches,” Shelton said. “We know he’s a guy who’s gonna have to mix and match. Really happy with his outing. He pitched four (innings) and then went out of the back field and threw two more. He got more work. It was just with us having limited endings coming in. He went back and finished up, so we were able to stretch him out.”

The Pirates gave a hint of what their starting rotation will look like when they revealed their scheduled pitchers for the remaining Grapefruit League games: Chad Kuhl, who missed time last week for the birth of his first child, is expected to start against the Boston Red Sox on Saturday at LECOM Park and will be followed by Mitch Keller at Baltimore on Sunday, Miguel Yajure against Minnesota on Monday and JT Brubaker at the Twins on Tuesday.

Keller started Monday against the Orioles, so the decision to push his start back a day could take him out of the running for Opening Day starter because he would be pitching on four days’ rest. Keller has had trouble with his fastball command this spring, and has a 16.20 ERA and .512 batting average against in 8 1/3 innings over four starts.

The Pirates have an off day Wednesday before the opener at the Cubs, when Anderson, Cahill and Kuhl will all have at least five days’ rest. The Pirates traded their past two Opening Day starters, Jameson Taillon (2019) and Joe Musgrove (2020), in January, so spring training has served as an open competition for the honor.

With four games left, however, Shelton said his primary focus is on the Pirates finishing spring training healthy.

“That’s probably the most important thing,” Shelton said. “We still have some pitchers that need to accrue innings. At bats-wise, we’re fine and we’ve gotten there. So I think health and then pitchers finishing up their innings, some of them going one-plus, some of them extending out … that’s probably the biggest thing.”

The Pirates continued to hit. Adam Frazier (.559) doubled to increase his extra-base hits to nine, which ties him with teammate Ke’Bryan Hayes and Boston’s Bobby Dalbec for most in Grapefruit League play. Kevin Newman also doubled, keeping his batting average above .700.

The Pirates got a two-run homer from Colin Moran for a 2-1 lead in the fourth. Cahill walked the first two batters he faced, then gave up a single to Jonathan Schoop and a sacrifice fly to Miguel Cabrera as the Tigers took a 3-2 lead in the fifth. Sam Howard replaced Cahill to finish the inning, which ended when Schoop was thrown out by catcher Jacob Stallings trying to steal second.

The Tigers stretched their lead to 4-2 in the fifth against Cahill, who gave up an RBI single to Harold Castro with runners on first and second. But Spencer Torkelson was thrown out in a rundown at third, and Ke’Bryan Hayes doubled up Castro at second to end the inning. After striking out the first two batters of the ninth, Tyler Bashlor gave up three consecutive singles. Dillon Dingler’s hit to right scored Ryan Kreidler to give the Tigers a 5-2 lead.