Bowden began the inning by drilling Jonathan Van Every before walking Brandon Jones to put runners at first and second with no outs.
Problem? Not for the Red Sox, who spun a triple play to end things on a line drive to the short stop.
Upon catching the screamer, Iglesias flipped the ball over to Hulett who then fired an errant throw to first base for the would-be third out. Luckily, Brown was there to back up the play and fire the ball to second for the third and final out of the afternoon. Not your conventional triple play, but three outs none the less.
Bowden struggled this afternoon as he walked three, hit one and allowed an earned run.
But the young righty would eventually bang the final nail in the coffin.
End 8th, 3-2 Red Sox: Navarro smacked a double off the base of the wall to lead off the inning but McDonald, Iglesias and Kalish left him stranded to end the inning.
Mid 8th, 3-2 Red Sox: Michael Bowden allowed a deep, two-out RBI double off the bat of Steve Pearce, who missed a home run by inches.
Bowden then settled down to get Brian Myrow to fly out to center to end the threat.
End 7th, 3-1 Red Sox: Bates, Anderson and Reddick went down in order after the third run to end the threat.
Bottom 7th, 3-1 Red Sox: With moving pictures comes runs! Thanks to the NESN engineering team for getting things fixed up just in time for some Red Sox offense.
With Chris Jakubauskas (gesundheit!) on the bump, Cameron led off with a double to get things going for the Red Sox in the seventh. After Darnell McDonald came in to replace the Red Sox CF, Iglesias beat out an infield single to put runners on the corners with no outs.
Kalish, the 22-year-old outfielder who made a fine defensive play in the top half of the frame, walked to load things up for Hulett with no outs. Hulett than chipped away before roping a two-run single up the middle to give Boston the 2-1 lead. Dusty Brown followed with a sac fly to make it 3-1 Sox.
Mid 7th, 1-0 Pirates: Brian Shouse took over in the seventh and Clement greeted him with a long fly out to the warning track, which Kalish made a nice play on.The Pirates leave Milledge stranded at second as we head into the seventh inning stretch.
Josh Reddick is in right field and Yamaico Navarro is at third for the other two Boston lineup changes.
In the shocking news department, Iglesias made a throwing error at shortstop.
End 6th, 1-0 Pirates: The Pirates walked two more batter this inning but the Sox couldn't take advantage.
Lars Anderson enters the game for Big Papi, who leaves the contest on a walk. Also, Aaron Bates takes over for Youk at first base.
Other substitutions include Ryan Kalish in left, Tug Hulett at second and Jose Iglesias is at shortstop.
The Fort Myers crew is obviously still having problems with their equipment. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Mid 6th, 1-0 Pirates: After picking off Clement in the second, V-Mart made another nice defensive play as he spun and fired out Diaz, who attempted a bunt to start things off.
However, Pirates leadoff hitter Delwyn Young busted out with a tater off Boof Bonser to put the Pirates out on top 1-0.
End 5th, 0-0: Pirates reliever Jack Taschner dug himself quite the hole, but managed to get right out of it to keep things scoreless.
Drew earned a leadoff walk off the Pirates reliever before Beltre followed with an opposite field line drive base hit to put runners at first and second with no outs.
After a wild pitch, the runners advanced to second and third but Cameron was unable to move the runners along as he bounced out sharply to third. Scutaro than drew the second walk of the inning to load 'em up for Ellsbury, who failed to do any damage as he struck out swinging on an outside breaking ball. Pedroia grounded out up the middle to strand all three ducks and keep things knotted at zero apiece.
Mid 5th, 0-0: Manny Delcarmen comes in and allows the Pirates' second hit of the afternoon, a two-out screamer by Jose Tabata past a diving Beltre at third.
Delcarmen gets out of the inning unharmed as things remain scoreless here at the Fort.
End 4th, 0-0: The Sox couldn't generate anything in the fourth as Lopez struck out Big Papi in his 1-2-3 inning of relief.
Mid 4th, 0-0: Beltre had a nice play over at the hot corner for Paps, who cruised through his first inning of work to keep things scoreless.
Maholm's day is done here at the Fort as old pal Javier Lopez takes the rubber for the Pirates.
1:53 p.m.: In his second start of the spring, Buchholz pitched three innings and allowed one hit and one walk while striking out two in 10 batters faced.
End 3rd, 0-0: Scutaro led off with a fly out to right field before Ellsbury, who grounded out to first in the first, couldn't check his swing and struck out on a breaking ball.
Pedie then flew out for Maholm's first 1-2-3 inning.
That will do it for Buchholz as Jonathan Papelbon comes in to the game in a scoreless fourth inning.
Mid 3rd, 0-0: Buchholz picked up his second strikeout of the game as he froze Argenis Diaz for the second out of his second 1-2-3 inning of the day.
End 2nd, 0-0: Cameron strikes out to end the frame, leaving Adrian Beltre, who walked with two outs following a J.D. Drew strike out, stranded at first.
Mid 2nd, 0-0: Pedroia had a nice web gem up the middle to end the top half of the second and keep things scoreless. Youk also deserves some credit as he had a clean pick on the receiving end of the off-balance throw.
Jeff Clement led off the frame with a single and Lastings Milledge followed with a walk but both were stranded. V-Mart was able to help out Buchholz as he picked off Clement at first to get the first out of the inning.
End 1st, 0-0: Martinez smacked a two-out single to the opposite field but that's all the damage the Sox bats could do against Maholm in the first. Youk grounded into a fielder's choice to third to end the inning.
Mid 1st, 0-0: Buchholz's changeup was working well in the first frame as he grabbed a 1-2-3 first inning to retire the visiting Pirates. Lets see if Tito's "regulars" can jump out with some early runs in the bottom half.
1:06 p.m.: Here's the Bucs' lineup:
Delwyn Young, 2B
Andy LaRoche, 3B
Garrett Jones, DH
Jeff Clement, 1B
Lastings Milledge, LF
Brandon Moss, RF
Jose Tabata, CF
Jason Jaramillo, C
Argenis Diaz, SS
1:02 p.m.: There's a malfunction with the satellite equipment in Fort Myers which is causing problems for the NESN broadcast. Hey, at least you can hear Don and Jerry, right? Hopefully it's fixed shortly, folks.
12:50 p.m.: It's been a tale of two pitchers on this Saturday afternoon. For the bad news, Dice-K's live batting practice session has been canceled due to a stiff neck. As for the good, it appears the Red Sox and Josh Beckett are nearing a contract agreement.
10:06 a.m.: The lineups have been announced and it looks as though Terry Francona wants to see how his projected Opening Day lineup will mesh as he has every probable starter etched into the starting lineup:
Jacoby Ellsbury, LF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Victor Martinez, C
Kevin Youkilis, 1B
David Ortilz, DH
J.D. Drew, RF
Adrian Beltre, 3B
Mike Cameron, CF
Marco Scutaro, 2B
Not only is the starting nine intact for this afternoon's tilt, but the game will be aired live on NESN and the Sox will be wearing their home white uniforms. Should be an exciting game for Red Sox Nation — especially those stuck inside during this rainy Boston afternoon.
9:52 a.m.: It's Buch vs. the Bucs on Saturday at the Fort as Red Sox righty Clay Buchholz makes his second start of the spring against the Pirates at 1 p.m. on NESN.
Buchholz allowed three earned runs on five hits over two innings in his first start of the spring against Baltimore last Sunday. He allowed a homer, walked two and struck out just one Oriole batter.
Following Buchholz out of the bullpen will be:
Jonathan Papelbon
Manny Delcarmen
Boof Bonser
Brian Shouse
Michael Bowden
Also pitching Saturday afternoon is Daisuke Matsuzaka, who will throw live batting practice for the first time this spring on the backfield at 11:30 a.m. But wait! There's More! Hideki Okajima, Daniel Bard, Casey Kelly, Ramon Ramirez, Robert Manuel, Kyle Weiland and Kris Johnson will all be taking the hill in an intrasquad scrimmage following the Red Sox-Pirates contest.
The Red Sox today host the Pirates for the first of three spring matchups between the two clubs and Pittsburgh’s only trip to City of Palms Park. Boston will travel to the Pirates spring home in Bradenton March 19 and 24.
Toeing the rubber for the Pirates will be lefty Paul Maholm, followed by D.J. Carrasco, Javier Lopez, Chris Jakubauskas, Jeremy Powell and Jack Taschner.
