PIRATES DROP HOME OPENER TO ORIOLES

The Pirates lost the home opener to the Baltimore Orioles 5-2 on Friday at PNC Park.

The Orioles started the scoring had solo homers from Ryan O’Hearn in the 2^nd and Gunnar Henderson in the 3^rd before O’Neil Cruz launched a solo homer of his own in the bottom of the 5^th.  It was in the 7^th when the Pirates pitching and defense crumbled as Adley Rutschman had an RBI Single, and Anthony Santander hit a 2-RBI double.  The Pirates Jared Triolo hit a solo shot in the bottom of the 7^th, but the O’s picked up an extra insurance run via a solo homer from Cedric Mullins.

Grayson Rodriguez picked up the win for the O’s, going 6 and 1/3rds innings, allowing two runs on six hits and notching seven strikeouts.  Craig Kimbrel picked up the save in the 9^th.  Jared Jones was excellent, allowing two runs on six hits in six innings, picking up seven strikeouts.

The series between the two teams resumes this afternoon at 4:05.  We’ll have the game at 3:40 on WCCS.