Sanchez has fractured jaw

Bradenton Marauders catcher Tony Sanchez suffered a fractured jaw after being hit by a pitch during Tuesday's game with the St. Lucie Mets, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
A catcher and the Pittsburgh Pirates' first-round draft pick in 2008, Sanchez was hit in the head with a pitch on June 3, as well.
According to the Post-Gazette, a second CT scan found two small fractures in Sanchez's jaw, and a specialist will decide whether Sanchez needs surgery.
Sanchez is hitting .314 with four home runs and 35 RBIs in 59 games with the Marauders, who play their final game of the first half of the Florida State League season 11 a.m. Wednesday against the Mets at McKechnie Field.

All Marauders after 3

Quincy Latimore and Jeremy Farrell stroked back-to-back doubles, fueling a four-run third inning and giving Bradenton a 5-0 lead over Jupiter.
Starling Marte's two-out single scored Brock Holt, and after Tony Sanchez singled, Latimore drove both in with a double to right center. Farrell followed, plating Latimore.
Latimore and Farrell share the team lead with 14 RBIs.

Update: Sanchez, Latimore fuel Bradenton

Tony Sanchez doubled in a run in top of the first and Quincy Latimore made a leaping jump at the wall in leftfield to rob Jupiter's Isaac Galloway of a run-scoring extra-base hit in the second, as the Marauders lead the Hammerheads 1-0 in the bottom of the second.

Marauders-Hammerheads

Hey folks...

This is John Lembo with The Bradenton Herald, comting to you live from McKechnie Field where the Bradenton Marauders face the Jupiter Hammerheads in a battle for first place in the FSL South Divison.

The lineups
Hammerheads
Kevin Mattison, cf
Daniel Pertusati, 2b
Jacob Smolinski, 3b
Ryan Keedy, dh
Ben Lasater, 1b
Hunter Mense, lf
Isaac Galloway, rf
Robert Taylor, c
Emilio Ontiveros, ss
Brian Sanches, p

Marauders
Brock Holt, ss
Austin McClune, rf
Starling Marte, cf
Tony Sanchez, dh
Quincy Latimore, lf
Jeremy Farrell, 3b
Calvin Anderson, 1b
Eric Fryer, c
Greg Picart, 2b
Brian Leach, p

Update: Marauders 14, Mets 3

The Marauders keep piling it on the St. Lucie Mets and lead 14-3 after seven innings.
Brock Holt drove in two more runs and Tony Sanchez hit a two-run home run in the seventh. It was the first home run of the season for Sanchez, the Pirates' first-round pick in 2009.

Update: Marauders 9, Mets 1

Quincy Latimore continued his hot hitting at McKechnie Field, drilling a grand slam to left field in the fourth to give Bradenton a 9-1 lead over the St. Lucie Mets.
Latimore is 2-for-3 on the night and is 4-for-5 with two home runs and seven RBIs in two games thus far at McKechnie Field.
Latimore has three home runs and 11 RBIs overall.

Marauders 5, Mets 1, bottom 4

The Marauders are on track to snap their two-game skid as they lead the St. Lucie Mets 5-1 heading into the bottom of the fourth at McKechnie Field.
Bradenton scored three runs in the second on an RBI single by Eric Fryer and a two-run hit by Brock Holt. Holt was transferred to the Marauders from the Pirates' short-season Single-A affiliate in State College, Pa., prior to Friday's game.
Tony Sanchez and Jeremy Farrell stroked RBI doubles in the third inning. Farrell has 13 RBIs, tops in minor-league baseball.

Marauders-Mets lineups

Hey folks...

This is John Lembo, coming to you live from McKechnie where the Marauders meet the St. Lucie Mets.

The lineups:
Mets
Jordany Valdespin, ss
Brahiam Maldonado, lf
Stefan Welch, 1b
Eric Campbell, dh
Sean Ratliff, cf
Richard Lucas, 3b
Josh Satin, 2b
Jean Luc Blaquiere, c
Emmanuel Garcia, rf
Scott Moviel, p

Marauders
Brock Holt, ss
Robbie Grossman, rf
Starling Marte, cf
Tony Sanchez, c
Quincy Latimore, lf
Jeremy Farrell, 3b
Calvin Anderson, 1b
Eric Fryer, dh
Greg Picart, 2b
Aaron Pribanic, p

Farrell hits a grand slam

Jeremy Farrell has broken up the first Bradenton Marauders' game at McKechnie Field.
Farrell hit a towering grand slam off Fort Myers Miracle reliever Shooter Hunt, giving the Marauders a 10-2 lead in the fourth inning.
Farrell is the son of Boston Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell.

Grossman goes yard

Robbie Grossman homered to deep right center, giving the Marauders a 5-2 lead over the Fort Myers Miracle in the bottom of the fourth at McKechnie Field.
Grossman also scored a run during the Marauders' two-run third inning.
Quincy Latimore hit the first home run and scored the first run in team history in the second, and singled in the go-ahead run in the third.
5-2 Marauders, bottom of the fourth.

History at McKechnie

The Bradenton Marauders have their first run, courtesy of Quincy Latimore. The outfielder homered off Kyle Gibson in the second inning of the Marauders' game against the Fort Myers Miracle at McKechnie Field.
It was the first hit and run in team history.
The Miracle leads 2-1 in the second inning.

Lineups for tonight's Marauders-Miracle game

Fort Myers Miracle
Drew Thompson, 2b
Chris Hermann, cf
Ramon Santana, lf
Deibinson Romero, 3b
Paul Kelly, ss
Michael Harrington, 1b
Nick Romero, dh
Evan Bigley, rf
Jair Fernandez, c
Kyle Gibson, p

Marauders
Greg Picart, ss
Robbie Grossman, rf
Starling Marte, cf
Tony Sanchez, c
Quincy Latimore, lf
Calvin Anderson, 1b
Jeremy Farrell, 3b
Eric Fryer, dh
Rudolfo Cardona, 2b
Bryan Morris, p

Pirates designate Moss

The Pirates designated outfielder Brandon Moss for assignment Monday after claiming pitcher Hayden Penn off waivers from the Florida Marlins.
An outfielder, Moss was hitting .081 this spring with three hits in 37 at bats. He was aquired in 2008 in a trade with the Boston Red Sox.

McLouth goes yard

Former Pirate Nate McLouth homered in his first at-bat at McKechnie Field since being traded to the Atlanta Braves last June.
It was an opposite field shot to left on an 0-1 pitch.
The guy who served up the home run? Charlie Morton, who came to Pittsburgh as part of the package for McLouth.
The Braves lead 1-0 in the top of the first.

Dotel feels "perfecto"

Sidelined for the spring with a strained oblique muscle, closer Octavio Dotel made his Grapefruit League debut during Wednesday's game against Boston Red Sox.
He threw a scoreless ninth inning that included a walk, a wild pitch and a strikeout. What mattered the most, however, is Dotel felt fine.
"Perfecto," he said. "Everything is great, everything is perfect."
Dotel suffered the injury early in the spring when the Pirates were still working out at Pirate City. Dotel threw an inning in two minor league games prior to Wednesday's outing.
"I'm happy to have that one out of the way," he said. "Hopefully, my outings can better than the one (Wednesday). I was little wild (Wednesday)."
Used mostly as a set-up guy the previous two seasons with the Chicago White Sox, Dotel has 83 career saves, including a career-high 36 he totaled while splitting time with the Houston Astros and Oakland Athletics in 2004.
He hopes to get eight appearances in before the start of the regular season.
"I feel like I'm going to be on the Opening Day roster," Dotel said. "If the season started tomorrow, I'm ready to go."

Maholm happy with outing

Despite allowing three home runs, Pirates starter Paul Maholm was pleased with his outing Wednesday against the Boston Red Sox.
"Overall, I felt great," the Pirates lefty said. "Obviously, you don't want to give up home runs. But when you make mistakes, they can become home runs."
Maholm struck out seven in five innings - mostly on the strength of his slider - and didn't walk anyone.
He was happy in his ability to challenge hitters and said his rhythm was the best it's been all spring.
"I felt great," he said. "The three home runs isn't the bright spot on the day, but that's part of the process of spring training. I'm confident with my mechanics heading into the season."
Maholm was Pittsburgh's Opening Day starter last year. This year, that falls to Zach Duke.
"Zach deserves it. He had a great year last year and is having a great spring," Maholm said. "Would I like to have started Opening Day? Sure. But I think the rotation is set and how it needs to be."

Historic crowd at McKechnie today

Today's game between the Boston Red Sox and Pittsburgh Pirates drew 6,053 fans - the eighth-largest crowd in the history of McKechnie Field, according to Pirates spokesman Jim Trdinich.
It's also the fifth sellout of the spring at McKechnie.
The Red Sox lead the Pirates 4-1 after four innings.

Duke named Pirates Opening Day starter

Pirates manager John Russell named Zach Duke the Opening Day starter following Tuesday's game with the Houston Astros.
Pittsburgh opens the regular season April 5 when they host the Los Angeles Dodgers.
It came down to Duke, Paul Maholm and Ross Ohlendorf, though Russell said the decision was based on the best way to set up the rotation.
"Realistically, you could've picked any one of the three - Ross had a great finish, Zach made an All-Star team, Paul is your consistent, steady starter," Russell said. "I talked to all three of them - it's not like an accolade or praise for one guy. It's how we wanted to set the rotation going into the season. We felt like it balanced our rotation, and put guys in the position where it felt like we were going to be more successful."
Duke, a lefty, went 11-16 last season, leading the National League in losses despite a respectable 4.06 ERA. He tied Ohlendorf for the team lead in wins and paced the Pirates in innings pitched (213), good enough for 12th in the NL.
He has a 5.40 ERA in three starts this spring.
The right-handed Ohlendorf will follow Duke in the rotation, with Maholm, another lefty, slated third. Charlie Morton will be fourth and Daniel McCutchen, who won the final rotation spot over Kevin Hart, will be fifth.
"What they've accomplished as a pitcher is what they did last year," Russell said. "Again, you can put all three of them in the position, and any one of the three could have done it...It kind of fell on Zach's day, and that's the way we wanted to do it."

Bradenton Night at the Trop scheduled for May 29

The fourth Bradenton Night at Tropicana Field has been scheduled for 7:10 p.m. Saturday, May 29, when the Tampa Bay Rays host the Chicago White Sox.
Following the game, recording artists Daryl Hall and John Oates will peform as part of the Rays' summer concert series.
Seating for Bradenton Night will be made available in the upper deck area known as the Party Deck. Tickets are $15 are available now at City Hall, located at 101 Old Main Street, and will be available while supplies last until May 20.
The city accepts cash or checks made out to the City of Bradenton.
Bradenton police officer Justin Gause will throw out the game's ceremonial first pitch. Gause was awarded the Medal of Honor on Feb. 23 after saving a woman from a burning building.

McCutchen named fifth starter

Daniel McCutchen has won the final spot in the Pirates' starting rotation.
Pittsburgh optioned McCutchen's chief competitor, Kevin Hart, to Triple-A Indianapolis prior to today's game against the Houston Astros at McKechnie Field.
McCutchen has a 2.25 ERA in four innings this spring, allowing three hits, striking out three and walking none while holding hitters to a .200 average.
He was acquired in 2008 from the New York Yankees as part of the package that sent Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte to New York.
Hart, who came to Pittsburgh last summer from the Chicago Cubs, struggled with his control this spring, walking 13 and striking out three in 4 2/3 innings.