Grapefruit roundup Pittsburgh vs. Cincinnati

Pirates 8, Reds 4

SARASOTA, Fla. — There wasn’t as much laughter this time, but Paul Maholm still had fun as he helped pitch the Pirates past the Reds. In his last outing on Thursday, Maholm struck out comedian Billy Crystal, who got to bat for the New York Yankees. On Tuesday, Maholm breezed through three innings before the Reds’ Joey Votto hit his first home run of the spring, driving in three runs. Maholm finished his work with a perfect fifth inning. “There was no circus today. It was fun,” Maholm said. “Early on, I was falling behind, but I was able to throw a sinker and get a ground ball or jam shot. I got extended to 80 pitches; that was the goal. Everything is extremely close to being where I need to be,” said Maholm, part of a young projected starting rotation for the Pirates. “Paulie did a great job. He had command of all his pitches,” said Pirates manager John Russell. The Pirates are looking for consistent outings from their starters. “We know they can pitch. We know that they’re good young arms, but we’ve talked to them about being consistent. So we can get those day-in, day-out good starts,” Russell said. Jose Bautista hit a home run, single and a sacrifice fly to drive in three runs. The Pirates hit three sacrifice flies in the game. Ryan Doumit and Xavier Nady each had two hits and an RBI. Josh Fogg’s former team roughed him up in his latest bid to win a spot in the Reds’ rotation. He gave up six runs, three earned, in three innings after four strong starts. “Fogg was missing,” Cincinnati manager Dusty Baker said. “We had some defensive miscues. He’s the kind of pitcher that needs good defense and needs to locate his pitches.” Fogg, 10-9 for the Rockies last year, is among five pitchers still in the race for the three starting jobs behind Aaron Harang and Bronson Arroyo.

Associated Press