Three observations from the Pirates' 10-2 loss to the Astros here today at LECOM Park: 

• It was a bit of an up-and-down day for Mitch Keller, and his sweeper usage looked to be at the forefront of it all. He generated 14 whiffs, five of which came with the sweeper, in his four innings. It was his third-most utilized pitch, but was also hit for two home runs. At this point in the spring where Keller is throwing up to 85 pitches in an outing, he's trying different things and valuing the learning experiences that come his way. He threw double-digit curveballs and changeups, two his his least-utilized pitches, and worked on a sinker-four seam combo to see how that would work. He certainly didn't get the results he would have liked, but it's even more important for him to feel good about his reportoire and to be feeling good physically this time of year. 

• Oneil Cruz didn't waste time being aggressive today. He sent the first pitch he saw from Lance McCullers, a fastball down the middle, the opposite way into left for a hard-hit single. His other two at-bats weren't great, as he struck out on two breaking balls, but Cruz has had a pretty good spring between his time in camp and the World Baseball Classic. He was 3 for 5 with two homers, a double, three walks and four runs scored for the Dominican Republic. Now, he has to continue trending up, rather than taking a step back like he briefly did with those two strikeouts. 

• Another day, another couple of quality at-bats from Ryan O'Hearn. Drew a walk after getting ahead 3-1 his first time up and then got a good pitch -- fastball on the inner third -- to hit right out of the gate against McCullers in his second AB. His third at-bat resulted in a line out, but he did manage to get things to a full count before committing the out. Can't say it enough, I really enjoy seeing the guy battle and make things challenging on opponents.