Mar 29, 2023 2 min read

BRADENTON, Fla. — The Pittsburgh Pirates lost their final game of spring training, 7-5 to the Minnesota Twins, finishing the spring with a 9-17 record.

The Pirates open the regular season Thursday in Cincinnati. The first pitch is slated for 4:10 p.m.

One of the lingering questions over the last few months of the offseason was who would be the Pirates’ backup catcher. Everyone knew that the organization would not be aggressive and push top prospects like Endy Rodriguez and Henry Davis to the majors, which meant that Austin Hedges would be the starter for the team.

Rodriguez and Hedges were the only two catchers on the 40-man roster. So who would be the backup? Well, the position battle was between three options. Jason Delay, and Tyler Heineman were on the roster at one point last year and veteran Kevin Plawecki was signed in the offseason through the free-agent market as a non-roster invite to spring training. Heineman was reassigned to Triple-A Indianapolis and Plawecki was released yesterday.

Plawecki had an opt-out clause if he wasn’t going to make the opening day roster. Delay has made the Pirates’ roster and earned the backup catcher role.

In the spring training finale, the Twins scored four runs in the top of the eighth inning to rally from a 5-3 deficit.

Canaan Smith-Njigba hit a three-run, opposite-field home run for the lead in the sixth inning. Trailing 2-1 in the sixth inning, Hedges singled and Maikol Escotto drew a walk to set the stage for Smith-Njigba to hit Jordan Brink’s 1-1 changeup 380 feet to left-center for a 4-2 lead.

The Twins scored two runs on six hits off starter Johan Oviedo. Kyle Farmer’s RBI double gave them a 1-0 lead in the fourth. Ryan Jeffers doubled off the right-field wall in the fifth, and pinch-runner Kyle Schmidt advanced to third on a Michael A. Taylor single and scored when Alex Isola hit into a double play for a 2-1 edge.