Spring Training: The Phils’ late rally comes up short as they lose to the Pirates, 3-2.

A late ninth-inning rally by the Phils comes up a run short as they lose to the Pirates, 3-2.

The Pirates take a quick 1-0 lead in the first as Starling Marte hits a lead-off home run, his first home run of the spring. The Pirates then took a 2-0 lead in the third as, with two men on, and with one man out, Casey McGehee hits an RBI ground out, 5-3, scoring Marte, who had earlier singled, stopped at second base on Clint Barmes’ single, then went to third on Cliff Lee’s wild pitch, while sending Barmes, who had earlier singled, then stopped at second base on Lee’s wild pitch, would move up to third base. The Pirates then made it a 3-0 lead in the fifth as pinch hitter Jake Fox hits a solo home run. The Phils finally get on the board in the ninth as, with the bases loaded, via Hector Luna being hit by a pitch, then moving up to second on Lou Montanez’s grounder before going on to third on third baseman Matt Pogue’s force attempt throwing error, Montanez reaching first base on Pogue’s error, and a walk to Tuffy Gosewisch, sending Montanez up to second base, and with one man out, Kevin Frandsen hits a sacrifice fly, scoring Luna, making it a 3-1 Pirates’ lead. while sending Montanez on to third. The Phils then made it a 3-2 Pirates’ lead one batter later as, with runners on the corners, and now with two men out, Miguel Abreu hits an RBI infield single, scoring Montanez, while sending Gosewisch up to second base. But, that would end up being the final score as Juan Pierre would end the game by grounding out, 4-3, for the final out.

Cliff Lee (1-1, 4.66) took the lost as he went four and two-thirds innings, giving up three runs on five hits and a walk, while striking out five. Kyle Kendrick pitched three and one-third scoreless innings, striking out five batters.  Kevin Correia (1-0, 0.00) got the win as he pitched four shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk, while striking out two. Evan Meek collected his second hold of the spring as he pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit, while striking out a batter. Justin Wilson, Kyle McPherson and Daniel Moskos all received their first hold of the spring as they combined for three scoreless innings, giving up three hits (McPherson (1), Moskos (2)) and a walk (Wilson) between them, while striking out one (Wilson). Bryan Morris recorded his first save of the spring as he pitched an inning, giving up two runs on a hit, a walk and a hit batter, while striking out one.

The Phils had six hits in the game, a single by Scott Podsednik, a single by Lou Montanez, a double by Pete Orr, a double by Kevin Frandsen (RBI), a single by Freddy Galvis and a single by Miguel Abreu (RBI). The Phils also had three walks in the game as well as two stolen bases (Podsednik, Juan Pierre).

The Phils (6-8) next spring training game will be an afternoon game with the Blue Jays (12-2) at Bright House Field in Clearwater tomorrow afternoon. The game is to start at 1:05 pm EDT.