Divided Pirates fall to O’s, Red Sox

Associated Press

Clay Buchholz pitched three hitless innings, Mike Carp hit a long homer and the Boston Red Sox beat a Pittsburgh Pirates split squad 4-1 on Sunday in Bradenton, Fla.

The news wasn’t any better from Sarasota, Fla., where the rest of the Pirates lost, 9-2, to the Baltimore Orioles.

Buchholz faced nine batters and got five outs on grounders. He walked one and struck out one.

Jackie Bradley Jr., trying to win a job in center field, gave the Red Sox a 2-0 lead in the second by grounding a two-run single into right field.

In the third, Carp hit his second home run of the spring onto the boardwalk in right-center.

Pirates right-hander Charlie Morton worked the first three innings and allowed three runs (one earned) on five hits.

Pittsburgh was hitless until the sixth, when Gregory Polanco led off with an infield single.

In the other game, Baltimore’s Chris Davis had a long home run and three RBIs, J.J. Hardy hit a three-run shot and Wei-Yin Chen pitched three shutout innings.

Davis has two homers and seven RBIs this spring for the Orioles, who improved to 8-2.

Baltimore scored 20 runs in two games Saturday against Boston and is averaging nearly eight runs per game.

“I have not looked at a stat sheet this spring — and won’t. I don’t look at them,” manager Buck Showalter said.

If Showalter looked, he’d see Davis is hitting .533, Hardy .400 and right fielder Nick Markakis, who had two hits, is at .633.

“I trust my eyes,” Showalter said. “I’m OK with them playing real well.”

Matt Wieters tried to downplay the Orioles’ offensive performance.

“It’s nice to swing the bat well at any time. It’s also nice to pitch well,” he said.

In his second Grapefruit League start, Chen gave up one hit and struck out two.

“The pitching staff is really progressing on a nice pace. I’m excited about that,” Showalter said.

Edinson Volquez started for the Pirates and gave up six runs on seven hits in 22/3 innings. In two starts, Volquez has allowed nine runs in five innings.

Andrew McCutchen and Tony Sanchez homered for Pittsburgh.