Trending
From Mirror, wire reports
BRADENTON, Fla. -- The Pittsburgh Pirates hit four home runs on Tuesday afternoon in a 13-4 win the Atlanta Braves in Spring Training action.
Trailing 4-0, the Pirates came back on the strength of a grand slam from Ke'Bryan Hayes, a two-run homer from Bryan Reynolds, plus back-to-back homers from Abrahan Gutierrez and Jackson Glenn during a seven-run sixth inning.
Pirates starter Marco Gonzales struggled a bit, giving up three earned runs on six hits in one-plus innings of work. He threw 41 pitches. Luis Ortiz worked two scoreless innings. Reliever Jose Hernandez worked a scoreless inning and got the win.
Pittsburgh (1-3) hosts Detroit this afternoon at 1:05 p.m. Quinn Priester is slated to start against Tigers lefty Tarik Skubal.
Ohtani homers
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Shohei Ohtani needed just three exhibition at-bats to show what a $700 million man can do for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Dodgers wound up winning the game, 9-6, to improve to 5-0 in the spring.
The Japanese star hit a two-run homer in his first game wearing Dodger blue, working a full count in the fifth inning before blasting an opposite field homer off righty Dominic Leone that just cleared the left-field wall.
Ohtani was hitless in his first two plate appearances, striking out on four pitches in the first inning before hitting a hard grounder into a double play in the third.
Crawford goes east
JUPITER, Fla. -- Brandon Crawford and St. Louis finalized a $2 million, one-year contract on Tuesday, giving the Cardinals an experienced backup for young shortstop Masyn Winn.
The 37-year-old Crawford spent his first 13 seasons with San Francisco. He won four Gold Gloves and two World Series championships with the Giants.
Winn, who turns 22 next month, made his big league debut last year. He hit .172 (21 for 122) with two homers and 12 RBIs in 37 games with St. Louis.
Crawford was selected by San Francisco in the fourth round of the 2008 amateur draft out of UCLA. The three-time All-Star played with St. Louis sluggers Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt on the U.S. in the 2017 World Baseball Classic.
Crawford appeared in 94 games in his final year in San Francisco, hitting .194 with seven homers and 38 RBIs. He had his best big league season in 2021, setting career highs with 24 homers, 90 RBIs, 11 steals and a .298 batting average in 138 games.
He is a .250 hitter with 146 homers and 744 RBIs in 1,655 career regular-season games.
Struggling Jay
It was a mixed bag for Toronto Blue Jays right-hander Alek Manoah in his first start of spring training.
Manoah hit three batters and threw 17 of his 38 pitches for strikes while working 1ª innings of four-run ball during a 6-4 loss to the Detroit Tigers. But he also showed improved velocity, reaching the mid-90s with his fastball. Manoah struggled last year, going 3-9 with a 5.87 ERA in 19 starts. He was optioned to the minors twice. Casey Mize pitched 1 2/3 innings for Detroit, continuing his comeback from elbow and back surgeries. The right-hander was charged with two runs and one hit.
It's official
MESA, Ariz. -- The Chicago Cubs finalized Cody Bellinger's $80 million, three-year contract on Tuesday after they traded left-hander Bailey Horn to the White Sox, clearing a spot on their 40-man roster.
Bellinger, who turns 29 in July, will make $27.5 million this year. He has a $27.5 million player option for 2025 with a $2.5 million buyout that would be payable Dec. 31, 2024. There is a $25 million player option for 2026 with a $5 million buyout that would be payable in equal installments on Jan. 15, 2026, and Jan. 15, 2027. He also gets a hotel suite on road trips.
Bellinger hit a career-best .307 with 26 homers, 97 RBIs and 20 steals in 130 games with the Cubs last season.
The Cubs sent Horn to the White Sox for minor league right-hander Matt Thompson.
The 26-year-old Horn, a fifth-round pick by the White Sox in the 2020 amateur draft, went 7-3 with a 4.21 ERA in 45 appearances over two minor league stops last year. He finished the season with Triple-A Iowa.