BRADENTON, Fla. -- Derek Shelton had been asked just coronavirus questions during his postgame media session to this point. That was to be expected since earlier that afternoon, Major League Baseball announced it was suspending spring training games and delaying the start of the regular season at least two weeks.
Shelton answered as best as he could, but this was all very sudden. There were no concrete plans.
But there was a baseball game played Thursday, too. Probably the last one for awhile. So when the coronavirus questions were done, it felt a bit weird to ask about, you know, the game.
But Shelton appreciated it.
"I'm glad you asked a baseball question," Shelton started his response to my question on Joe Musgrove.
And for a couple minutes, it was nice to talk a little actual baseball. Who knows when the next opportunity to do that will happen.
Sports are, if nothing else, an escape from the real world, but the real world has reached a point where that escape can no longer be safely performed. Not just for the safety of the players, but the fans, workers, local communities and the country as a whole. Suspending these games is the right thing to do.
But we're going to miss the escape.
So that's what this (hopefully) is. One last gamer before all sports go dark for the foreseeable future, with no mention of coronavirus (well, at least from now on). One last escape.
Cards on the table: This gamer is not great. Actually, I think it's bad. Sorry. Not a whole lot of people wanted to talk after this one. These are the cards that were dealt. Time to make the most of them.
So. There was a baseball game played in Bradenton, Fla. at LECOM Park Thursday. The Pirates lost it to the Blue Jays, 7-5. Here's what happened:
• Musgrove lasted 4.1 innings, throwing 71 pitches. He allowed three runs and nine hits -- two of them homers -- while striking out four.
That line is a bit deceiving. He look good, locating his fastball up and getting whiffs.
"As far as stuff wise, I thought today was the best that I felt all spring," Musgrove said.
Musgrove added that he was able to use his breaking ball to get ahead in the count, rather than just rely on it as a put-away pitch, like he had been most of this spring.
"I thought he threw the ball really well," Shelton said. "Ball came out well, [with] intent. Breaking ball was there."
A couple of his good pitches were hit hard, including a Bo Bichette home run on a high pitch that was on the inner part of the plate.
No shame in that one leaving the yard.
"I think it shows the testament to how good a player that kid's gonna be," Shelton said.
• Bryan Reynolds absolutely demolished a baseball in the third inning, his second homer of the spring. Blue Jays right fielder Josh Palacios extended a courtesy step or two toward its direction for his pitcher, Trent Thorton, but then stopped and just watched it sail.
"It felt good. I got all of it," Reynolds said.
"To see him get the head out on that right there, that was nice to see," Shelton said.
• Geoff Hartlieb inherited a couple runners on base in the fifth, but got out of the jam on one pitch by inducing a double-play.
He ran into trouble in his next inning of work, and while he loaded the bases, he was one pitch away from wiggling off the hook. However, Brock Lundquist beat the shift sand snuck a ground ball in the ground Kevin Newman vacated during the shift.
That ended up breaking a 3-3 tie in the sixth. The Blue Jays never surrendered the lead.
• Yacksel Rios did not do himself any favors to try to earn a major-league bullpen spot, allowing three hits and walking two before being pulled in the eighth without recording a single out.
Fortunately for him, he only allowed two runs thanks to an outstanding afternoon by Miguel Del Pozo. Del Pozo struck out two in the eighth and three total over his two innings without allowing a run to score. Amazingly, he did that over just 16 pitches.
• A quick preview of what's to come from Ke'Bryan Hayes on defense:
• Another healthy cut from Cole Tucker, who snuck a towering shot just inside the right field foul-pole in the eighth inning. That revamped swing has looked good this spring, and now he is tied with John Ryan Murphy for the team lead in homers (3).
• The Pirates end this leg of spring training 3-15-2. It doesn't matter.
Actually, it matters even less than just saying, "it doesn't matter." That's why these games are being suspended. They don't matter. People matter. Stay safe.
• Who threw today:
Joe Musgrove: 4.1 IP, 3 ER, 9 hits, 4 K
Geoff Hartlieb: 1.2 IP, 2 ER, 1 H, 2 BB, 1 K
Sam Howard: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 K
Yacksel Rios: 0 IP 2 ER, 3 H, 2 BB
Miguel Del Pozo: 2 IP, 3 K
