Final, Pirates 7-5: Nieve stays on for the ninth, and Spears leads off the Sox' last chance.
He gets hit on the back foot by Nieve, but isn't awareded the base. On the next pitch, he strikes out looking.
Sutton follows him up with his second double of the day,this time to deep center.
Daniel Butler comes up with the man on second and one out. He draws a walk, bringing the tying run to the plate.
Zach Gentile has a chance to make things interesting, but he pops out to second, bringing Khoury up.
He grounds one up the middle for a base hit, driving in Sutton. Now, the lead run is up to bat.
Bermudez chops to third for the final out — 7-5 Bucs, Final.
End 8th, Pirates 7-4: Aceves stays on for his third inning of work — getting Fields to strikeout to start the inning.
He then induces a popup from Josh Rodriguez, bringing pitcher Nieve to the plate.
As has been the trend today, the pitcher again reaches base — as Nieve walks.
Still, he gets out of the inning, as Jaramillo grounds to second for the final out.
Mid 8th, Pirates 7-4: Fernando Nieve is now on the hill.
Darnell McDonald and Daneil Nava go quietly to begin the inning — a grounder to second and fly to left respectively.
Josh Reddick battles Nieve in a long at-bat, fouling a bunch of pitches off and running the count full. Finally, he strikes out looking on a pitch that appeared high — he was walking to first as if he had walked.
End 7th, Pirates 7-4: After an easy 6th inning, Aceves comes back out for the 7th.
This inning doesn't go so well. He surrenders a single, home run to John Bowker, and double to Pedro Ciriaco to begin the inning before finally getting the first out on a fly ball to center, 7-4 Pirates, just as the Sox had clawed back into the game.
Khoury catches a popup for the second out — falling on the mound in the process, but he held on.
Steve Pearce flies out to McDonald to end the frame.
Mid 7th, Pirates 5-4: Justin Thomas is on for the Pirates — he starts off his outing with a walk of Spears.
Sutton, on for Scutaro, rips a double to right in his first AB — Spears to third.
A wild pitch by Thomas allows Spears to score from third — 5-4 Bucs. Sutton, also, moves up on the play.
Thomas finally gets an out, in rather unexpected fashion — punching out Dustin Pedroia, swinging on a good pitch.
After a marathon at-bat, Saltalamacchia draws a walk from Thomas, putting runners at the corners with one out. Salty is pinch run for by Zach Gentile.
Ryan Khoury comes up to bat, and he chops one to first. Marte throws home, and Sutton is caught in a rundown. Gentile makes it to third and Khoury to second, but Sutton is tagged out.
Fields, now in right field, makes a nice sliding catch to rob Ronald Bermudez of a hit and the Sox of doing any more damage.
End 6th, Pirates 5-3: Aceves has come on for Wheeler. He starts off well, getting Diaz to strike out, Cedeno to pop out and Brown to chop out quickly — nice inning of work.
Mid 6th, Pirates 5-3: Hanrahan has come on to pitch for Correia.
Mike Cameron singles to left to start the inning off.
McDonald thereafter flies to right.
Hanrahan gets Nava looking on a 98 MPH fastball away — nice pitch. He follows that K up with another punchout, getting Reddick swinging to end the inning.
End 5th, Pirates 5-3: Beckett gets two long flyballs for outs to begin the inning, one from Walker and one from McCutchen.
Overbay grounds one into right to extend the inning.
Dan Wheeler comes on for Josh Beckett. He immediately gets Alvarez on a popout to end the inning.
Mid 5th, Pirates 5-3: McDonald walks on four pitches to start off the Red Sox comeback bid.
Nava keeps the rally moving with a single to right, sending McDonald to third.
Reddick manufactures a run with a sacrifice fly, bringing McDonald home.
Spears then tries to atone for his fielding woes with a single, bringing Nava to second — the Sox have something going here.
Scutaro lines one down the left-field line for a long single, bringing Nava home for a 2nd run. Drew Sutton replaces Scutaro at first, Spears is still at second.
Pedroia comes up with an infield hit to load the bases — his grounder in the hole between first and second was fielded by Walker, but his throw pulled Overbay off the bag.
Saltalamcchia gives the Sox their second sacrifice fly of the inning, scoring Spears with his drive to left.
Finally, the inning ends on a Youkilis fly to center, but the Sox get it back to 5-3.
End 4th, Pirates 5-0: Walker's chopper to first is muffed by Spears, which results in two bases for the Pirates second baseman — that's the 2nd time that Spears has messed up a Walker grounder.
After a lengthy at-bat which began with McCutchen showing bunt, Beckett gives the center fielder a free pass — two on, nobody out.
Overbay sends one into the left-center gap for a double, scoring both runners — still nobody out.
Alvarez grounds sharply to Pedroia, who goes to third with his throw, and Overbay is tagged out — great heads-up play.
Diaz singles to center to put runners on first and second as the long inning grows longer.
Cedeno flies to center for the second out, but Brown follows that up with a grounder up the middle, deflected by Beckett towards Scutaro — everybody's safe, bases loaded.
Correia keeps the bleeding going, grounding one into left. Two runs score, and Saltalamacchia throws the ball away to bring home a third run, 5-0.
Finally, Tabata grounds out to end the inning.
Mid 4th, 0-0: The Red Sox have the heart of the order coming up to face Correia for a second round.
Pedroia leads off with another single, lined into right.
Salty steps in, looking to reverse his luck from his last at-bat, when he lined into a double play. Correia, however, gets him swinging — one out.
Youkilis and Correia thereafter battle at length, and Youk is called out on a pitch that looked inside — two outs.
Cameron ends the inning with a chopper to third, sent to second to get Pedroia for the force.
End 3rd, 0-0: Beckett jams Cedeno to induce a short popout to first, bringing former Sox prospect Dusty Brown to the plate.
He lines one to right, but directly at Reddick, who makes the catch — two down.
Kevin Correia, hitting despite the DH option, lines one to center for a hit — guess the Pirates don't need a designated hitter.
Tabata grounds to Pedroia, who flips to second to get Correia to end the inning.
Mid 3rd, 0-0: Correia settles in as well, inducing two routine groundouts from Reddick and Spears.
The Sox get back to the top of the order, but Scutaro goes down on a called third strike — we're still scoreless.
End 2nd, 0-0: Beckett settles in with a 1-2-3 inning, getting a popout, strikeout, and routine groundout to end the frame.
Mid 2nd, 0-0: Correia gets Cameron to strike out swinging, but McDonald follows that up with a liner to right for a base hit.
As has been the trend thus far, a double play ensues thereafter, Nava grounding into the 4-6-3 variety.
End 1st, 0-0: Beckett starts off well by striking off Tabata, swinging.
Walker grounds it between first and second, and Spears tracks it down but mis-throws, allowing Walker to reach.
McCutchen drives one deep to left, but Nava makes a great catch on the track, and he throws to first to double off Walker, who had strayed.
Mid 1st, 0-0: Marco Scutaro gets ahead of Kevin Correia 3-1 and rips a fastball up the middle for a leadoff single.
Correia then falls behind Pedroia 3-1, and he rips a single to right, sending Scutaro to third.
Correia then catches a break, as Saltalamacchia lines one to second — it bounced, but the runners had to hold — and the Pirates convert a 4-6-3 double play, as Scutaro stays put.
Youk grounds to short to end the inning — a blown opportunity.
9:30 a.m.: The Pirates may be 8-14, second from the cellar of the Grapefruit League standings, but that didn't stop them from roughing up Josh Beckett en route to a 9-4 victory over the Sox last Sunday in Bradenton.
Now, Boston will have a chance for a little spring vengeance, returning to McKechnie Field to take on the Pirates, as just over a week of Florida baseball remains to be played.
First pitch is set for 1:05 in NESN.
The Sox lineup is as follows:
Marco Scutaro SS
Dustin Pedroia 2B
Jarrod Saltalamacchia C
Kevin Youkilis 3B
Mike Cameron DH
Darnell McDonald CF
Daniel Nava LF
Josh Reddick RF
Nate Spears 1B
Josh Beckett SP
Pirates:
Jose Tabata LF
Neil Walker 2B
Andrew McCutchen CF
Lyle Overbay 1B
Pedro Alvarez 3B
Matt Diaz RF
Ronny Cedeno SS
Dusty Brown C
Kevin Correia SP
