Ramirez homers twice as Bucs top Reds
BRADENTON, Fla. (AP) – Aramis Ramirez drove in four runs with two homers, the only two hits off Reds starter Chris Reitsma, and the Pirates beat Cincinnati 6-2 Thursday. Ramirez hit a solo shot in the fourth and a three-run drive in the sixth, giving him seven homers this spring. He is trying to rebound from an ankle injury and a big dropoff in production last season.
“Earlier in the spring, I think he was tired and a little bored, but he’s all right now,” manager Lloyd McClendon said. “He’s back on track, back to looking for pitches in the strike zone.”
Ramirez dropped 20 pounds following a disappointing season that saw his batting average drop 66 points to .234 and his homer total fall from 34 in 2001 to 18.
Ramirez’s homers supported minor league left-hander Sean Burnett, who allowed one run and six hits in five innings. A two-time Pirates minor league pitcher of the year, it was his first and only appearance this spring against major league hitters.
Burnett, the Pirates’ first-round draft pick in 2000, got Ken Griffey Jr. to ground into a double play in the first – a thrill for a player who once emulated Griffey in his backyard.
“I told him he wasn’t getting an audition, he had no chance to make the club,” McClendon said. “Just go out and be relaxed and pitch. He wasn’t here for us to get a look at him, he was here to get his work in.”
By pitching Burnett, the Pirates kept from showing the Reds one of the three starters they’ll use in their season-opening series that begins Monday in Cincinnati. The Reds took a similar approach by starting Reitsma, who was unhappy with being left out of their rotation.
Cincinnati broke camp after the game, returning home for two weekend exhibitions against Cleveland to break in the new Great American Ball Park before Monday’s season opener.
Griffey doubled in the only run against Burnett in the third before being lifted for a pinch-runner. He went 1-for-2 after hitting three home runs in an earlier appearance at McKechnie Field.
Notes: Salomon Torres followed Burnett by allowing one run in three innings, Wily Mo Pena’s homer in the eighth. … The Pirates No. 4 and 5 starters, Jeff Suppan and Jeff D’Amico, will pitch in minor league games this weekend. … The Pirates remain in Florida to play the Tigers the next two days before leaving after Saturday’s game in Bradenton. They will work out Sunday in the Reds’ new park.