Pirates at Phillies, 9th inning

Jonah Bayliss did a nice job keeping the Phillies off the scoreboard in the bottom of the eighth. He's a hard thrower, but needs to harness it and know when to take something off his pitches.

Also in the eighth (hey, I know what the headline says), we saw the first bare-handed catch of a pop ful by a guy in a magenta shirt behind third base. Ray Olmedo, who the Phillies just picked up off waivers, hit it.

Managers John Russell and Charlie Manuel are still on the top step of the dugouts, as if it were a game in the middle of a pennant race. And the Pirates refuse to quit. Following a one-out single by catcher Michel Hernandez, Kevin Thompson slams an offering from Joe Bisenius on a line to left. It misses going out by 5 feet, and Thompson settles for a long single.

Bisenius manages to avoid the wrath of teammates who want nothing to do with extra innings (wait, they don't do that in the spring, but who wants a tie?) by getting the next two guys to preserve the 3-1 victory and drop the Pirates to 1-4. And that's a wrap from Clearwater. On to Fort Myers and Red Sox Nation.

- Mike Henry, Herald Staff Writer