Baltimore Orioles ease past Pittsburgh Pirates 4-1 – MLB Spring Training
Baltimore Orioles eased past Pittsburgh Pirates 4-1 at the McKechnie Field in Bradenton, Florida on Monday, March 26 in their Cactus League encounter of the 2012 Major League Baseball Spring Training Session.
Tommy Hunter was the star of the show for the Orioles as he took a big step toward cementing his place on the pitching rotation and the Orioles secured a comfortable 4-1 win over the Pirates on Monday night.
Hunter played in only a handful of games last season with a decent 4-4 win-loss record. His 4.68 ERA in 2011 suggests that he still has to do a lot of hard work to perfect his throwing technique.
The starter made the most of available opportunities in a his second spring season game against the Pirates as he allowed only one hit and struck out five batters over six innings pitched. Hunter had tossed five solid innings in his first Spring Training
outing on March 21 against Toronto Blue Jays.
"It was definitely fun," Hunter said. "That was baseball -- going out for six innings and still having something left. We'll see what happens when April 6 and the rest of the season comes around."
"The last time, it was a struggle to locate my fastball," he added. "Tonight, I fell behind the first batter. But after that, I settled in and me and (catcher Matt Wieters) were in sync pretty much all night."
Catcher Matt Wieters also had a great time on the plate as he displayed some high quality hitting skills. With three hits and one run, he played a key role in deciding the outcome of the clash. It will be interesting to see if he can post similar numbers
in the upcoming regular season.
"I did what I try to do every game, change speeds and hopefully they don't hit it," Bedard said.
Pirates starter Erik Bedard will be disappointed with his effort after he allowed two runs on seven hits in just over six innings. Bedard will be Pirates’ Opening Day starter and he will be eager to maintain his good form throughout the season.
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