BRADENTON, Fla. — The Pirates' bullpen is starting to take shape, or at least that appears to be the case after yet another poor performance from two candidates in an 8-5 loss to the Orioles Monday at LECOM Park.
Dovydas Neverauskas and Jordan Milbrath allowed a combined six earned runs on six hits with three walks, potentially eliminating themselves from obtaining one of the final roster spots for opening day. Neverauskas and Milbrath, both right-handers, have ERAs of 9.00 and 13.50, respectively.
Neverauskas, 25, has allowed seven runs in his past four innings, and Milbrath, 26, has gotten only one of his past 14 hitters out. Although there are 15 games remaining in spring training, time is running out, as Clint Hurdle made his second round of camp cuts Monday morning.
"Now, can you find another guy or another two guys to piece it together or to finish out an outing to get you to the back-end of the game?" Hurdle said. "Those are the guys we’re looking for and we have some younger guys — maybe not the ones we’re talking about — that can provide that opportunity at some particular time of the year that we’ve seen pitch. It’s an interesting piece to talk about and watch develop."
Neverauskas, who became the second Lithuanian-born player to reach the major leagues when he made his debut last April, allowed just one run in a stretch of 9 2/3 innings in September, but he is now having trouble repeating his delivery.
That was evident in the fourth inning Monday, when he gave up two doubles, two singles and walked a batter, throwing only three of eight first-pitch strikes.
"Right now, he’s not repeating his delivery," Hurdle explained. "The command isn’t where it needs to be to be effective. The fastball command to set up the slider, to set up the splitter, to set up the changeup, whichever one he chooses to throw. But he’s been behind in counts and pitches have been elevated. That’s been the big problem. ... He was working from behind and the command hasn’t been what we’ve seen from him in the past."
Milbrath, meanwhile, was selected by the Pirates in the Rule 5 draft in December because the club was intrigued by his side-armed throwing motion that produced a high ground-ball rate at Double-A last season. He must be returned to the Indians if he does not earn a spot on the 25-man roster for opening day. Both teams could work out a trade to allow Milbrath to join one of the Pirates' minor-league affiliates, but they may want to pull the plug on the experiment after what they saw against the Orioles.
Milbrath can't find the strike zone. When he does, he leaves pitches right over the middle of the plate, as evidenced in the eighth inning, when his four-seam fastball was drilled by Cedric Mullins into the gap for a triple. He then walked a batter, hit another, gave up a single and walked another before Hurdle finally saw enough.
"I'm still having trouble with the command of it," Milbrath said earlier in camp. "I have to get my fastball down in the zone more. It's still an adjustment."
The Pirates will almost certainly break camp with Felipe Rivero, George Kontos, Michael Feliz, Kyle Crick, Steven Brault and yes, Tyler Glasnow, in the bullpen. That leaves one spot between Edgar Santana, Josh Smoker and Kevin Siegrist, the left-hander signed to a minor-league contract last month.
Santana pitched a scoreless ninth inning against the Orioles, and Smoker, a left-hander acquired from the Mets in January, stretched his scoreless inning streak to five, despite Starling Marte dropping a fly ball in center field in the seventh inning.
Hurdle would prefer to have his seventh reliever be someone who can pitch multiple innings, but minor-league options will play a role in his decision. Also, Hurdle and Ray Searage both want more left-handed options than in previous seasons.
With Siegrist being able to opt out of his contract at the end of the month, perhaps he's the clear favorite to earn the spot.
"Competition is a great thing and to have options, not just out of spring training, but as we get into April and May, as we get all the way into October, hopefully, to have depth, to have different looks, to have different capabilities, to have flexibility," Neal Huntington said. "That’s going to be important for us. It’s going to be the quality of the stuff, the consistency of the stuff, the usability of their weapons and ultimately, the fit."
• Alex McRae, a right-handed pitcher who started 25 games for Double-A Altoona last season, started Monday in place of Glasnow, who was scratched because of flu-like symptoms. McRae, a 10th-round draft pick in 2014, pitched three scoreless innings against the Orioles, allowing one hit, walking a batter and hitting another.
• Josh Harrison led off the game with a double and stole third before scoring on an RBI single by Gregory Polanco, who was the Pirates' designated hitter. Harrison, Polanco, Corey Dickerson, Francisco Cervelli and Colin Moran had two hits apiece.
Polanco has now reached base safely in six straight games, and Cervelli has five hits in his last eight at-bats. Jose Osuna also had a two-run single in the seventh inning to cut the deficit to one run.
• Doc Emrick will be attending a few games at LECOM Park this week in preparation for a short appearance during Saturday's broadcast on AT&T SportsNet. Emrick stopped by the ballpark Monday to gather information, so he can go in with a few talking points about baseball.
He couldn't stop talking about Evgeni Malkin while chatting with reporters. Seriously.
• Outfielders Austin Meadows, Bryan Reynolds and Jason Martin were among the Pirates' second round of camp cuts.
• And here's Hurdle's lineup for the game:
1. Josh Harrison, 2B
2. Corey Dickerson, LF
3. Starling Marte, CF
4. Gregory Polanco, DH
5. David Freese, 1B
6. Colin Moran, 3B
7. Francisco Cervelli, CF
8. Sean Rodriguez, RF
9. Jordy Mercer, SS
• The Pirates are off Tuesday. They'll host the Rays on Wednesday at LECOM Park with first pitch at 1:05 p.m. Ivan Nova is expected to start with Felipe Rivero, George Kontos, Michael Feliz and Nick Kingham in relief.