PITTSBURGH -- The Pirates had a lighter workout on Tuesday afternoon at PNC Park, running through some team defensive drills and batting practice before a two-inning simulated game in which coaches played the field and batters didn’t run the bases. But if nothing else, it was a slightly louder workout.

During the sim game, the Pirates pumped crowd noise into the ballpark. That was a change from their recent intrasquad scrimmages, which were played in relative silence. The Pirates are using their Summer Camp workouts to prepare for every possibility this season may bring, including the sound of fans in empty ballparks.

Pirates manager Derek Shelton tested out the impact himself, making his way to the outfield to talk with David Eckstein, Jamey Carroll and other coaches to see how loud it was. Pittsburgh will likely continue to play that dull roar in upcoming intrasquad games to make sure players practice communicating amid the noise.

“Once we get our guys up there, I think we'll have a better idea of like how loud it should be and make sure our communication’s fine,” Shelton said. “I wish we could pipe in maybe some beer vendors or water vendors.”

Players have varying opinions when it comes to piped-in crowd noise. Catcher Luke Maile was in favor from a strategy perspective, because he thought the silence made it difficult for him to set up to receive pitches.

“Every time I move inside to a hitter, it feels like a truck's rolling through the infield,” Maile said. “You’re not really invisible anymore as a catcher, so I'm trying to get set later [with] targets a lot more often than I otherwise would. Because whether it's right or it's wrong, you feel kind of naked out there without having that white noise in the background. So it will be interesting, but we’ll make adjustments.”

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Infielder Colin Moran said it’s easy for him to tune out external noise, or a lack thereof, when he’s on the field competing against another team. The silence stood out to the Pirates' third baseman more in the dugout, so he’s curious to see how different clubs handle their stadium operations -- walk-up music, scoreboard graphics, even something like Pittsburgh’s pierogi races.

Left-hander Derek Holland, who loves interacting with fans as much as feeding off their energy, said canned audio is “not going to be the same” as a roaring crowd when it comes to creating adrenaline in big moments. Meanwhile, catcher Jacob Stallings offered an argument similar to Maile’s point in favor of the background sound.

“I don’t really want to hear the other teams’ conversations from their dugout, and I don’t want them hearing ours. Hopefully, they can do something like that,” Stallings said. “That’s not something you can really simulate, competing without a crowd, because we’ve never really done it. That’ll be interesting to see how that works.”

Around the horn

• Relievers Nick Burdi, Robbie Erlin, Miguel Del Pozo and Geoff Hartlieb each pitched an inning in Tuesday’s sim game. Shelton said the shorter day was scheduled intentionally as a “little recovery day” after the Pirates played a nine-inning intrasquad game Monday night.

• Right-hander Joe Musgrove, who pitched six strong innings on Monday night, said during an Instagram Live stream that he is scheduled to throw six innings in Saturday’s exhibition game against Cleveland at PNC Park. That would put Musgrove in line to start the July 24 season opener on five days’ rest. The Pirates have not yet announced their Opening Day rotation, however, or even the probable starters for their three preseason games.

• Shelton confirmed that relief prospect Blake Cederlind (confirmed positive COVID-19 test on July 5) is still not active in camp, nor are closer Keone Kela and third-base prospect Ke’Bryan Hayes (undisclosed reasons).

• Bullpen coach Justin Meccage said setup man Kyle Crick, who faced hitters for the first time in Sunday’s intrasquad game, is “going to be good to go” for Opening Day. If Kela isn’t available by that point, Crick could be Pittsburgh’s top candidate to close out games at the start of the season.

“Physically, I think he’s going to be ready,” Meccage said. “But I think mentally, when that first game hits on July 24, I think he’s going to be ready to go.”