The Pittsburgh Pirates opened their spring campaign with a strong 8–2 victory over the Baltimore Orioles at Ed Smith Stadium, paced by key offensive contributions from several hitters. Ryan O’Hearn delivered a big day at the plate, going 1-for-3 with a run scored and 3 RBIs to lead the Pirates’ offense, while Endy Rodríguez matched him with a 1-for-3 performance, a run and 3 RBIs of his own, each batting .333 in the contest. Oneil Cruz also chipped in with a run scored in his 1-for-3 showing, and Nick Yorke added an RBI despite going 0-for-2. Baltimore’s lineup saw N. Gonzales cross the plate once and E. Rodriguez (Orioles) contribute with a 1-for-3 line including a run and 3 RBIs, but the rest of the Orioles’ hitters struggled to generate offense. On the mound for Pittsburgh, Wilber Dotel earned the win by allowing just one earned run over two innings, and an effective bullpen performance followed with scoreless outings by N. Murdock, M. Darrell-Hicks, M. Ager, J. Bayless, and J. Meis, combining for minimal baserunners. The Pirates’ balanced attack and strong pitching depth set the tone in this early season encounter.
Konnor Griffin struggled at the plate striking out twice and whiffing 4 times. It seemed from the eye test that he only chased once and hit a foul grounder to the pull side. He made his routine plays in the field.