Meadows, Osuna carry Bucs vs. Braves

BRADENTON, Fla. -- Prospects Austin Meadows and José Osuna homered, leading the Pirates to a 6-3 win over the Braves on Tuesday at LECOM Park.
Meadows, starting in right field and batting third, sliced a two-run homer to left field off Braves lefty Jaime García in the first inning. Meadows, the Bucs' No. 2 prospect according to MLBPipeline.com, will receive more regular playing time this month with the Pirates' starting outfield participating in the World Baseball Classic.
"It's a pretty swing. He hit the ball in the direction he needed to hit it," manager Clint Hurdle said. "We like the player. He's getting some extra [opportunities] and reps while he's here, so those things are always good when they happen for confidence."
Osuna, Pittsburgh's No. 29 prospect, entered the game at first base and went deep to begin the Bucs' three-run sixth inning. Competing to make the Pirates' Opening Day roster, Osuna has put together a strong start this spring, batting .471 while playing first and right field. Osuna's homer tied the game, 3-3, and the Pirates broke through with an RBI single by Christopher Bostick and Eury Pérez's squeeze bunt.

The Braves rallied for three runs in the third inning on Brandon Phillips' RBI groundout, a single by Adonis García and Anthony Recker's fly ball to right field, which turned around Meadows and fell for a double.
Pirates right-hander Trevor Williams started and allowed two runs on three hits and two walks in 2 2/3 innings. Left-hander Steven Brault, also competing for a spot in the rotation, struck out three over three scoreless innings.
"We both want to get that spot. We're not going to pretend we don't want it. I want it," Brault said. "But I also want Trevor to get as good as he can because the best competition you're going to get is if we're both at our best. We're trying to push each other."
Garcia permitted two runs on three hits and struck out four in three innings. Matt Wisler tossed two hitless innings then ran into trouble in the sixth, allowing three runs on three hits while only recording one out.
Braves Up Next: The Braves return home on Wednesday for a 1:05 p.m ET game against the Phillies in Lake Buena Vista. Bartolo Colon will get his third start of the spring where he is 0-0 with a 5.40 ERA (three earned runs/five innings pitched) in his first two starts.
Pirates Up Next: The Pirates will host an exhibition against the Dominican Republic's World Baseball Classic squad at 1:05 p.m. ET on Wednesday at LECOM Park, in a game available via an exclusive audio webcast. Gerrit Cole and Tyler Glasnow are scheduled to start, and they may face some of their teammates as Starling Marte and Gregory Polanco are on the Dominican club's roster. Dan Runzler, Angel Sánchez and Pat Light are also scheduled to pitch for the Pirates. Josh Bell is scheduled to make his second start at first base with John Jaso playing right field.
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