Prospect's Homer Helps Lead Pirates Past Orioles
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On a day when Oneil Cruz and Paul Skenes played for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Konnor Griffin was the difference maker in a 5-2 win over the Baltimore Orioles.
Griffin only had one at-bat but made the most of it, smoking a solo home run over the right-center field wall to start off the ninth inning and give Pittsburgh a 3-2 lead. Griffin also had a go-ahead RBI single earlier in the week during the Pirates' 5-1 win over the Minnesota Twins.
KONNOR GRIFFIN.
— Platinum Ke’Bryan (@PlatinumKey13) March 1, 2025
The 18-year-old's first home run of Spring Training gives the Pirates the lead in the 9th!!! pic.twitter.com/mlzb6HAklu
Griffin, 18, was the Pirates' first-round pick in the 2024 MLB Draft. MLB Pipeline has the 6-foot-4 shortstop/center fielder as the No. 43 prospect in baseball and Pittsburgh's No. 2 prospect, only trailing right-handed pitcher Bubba Chandler. Chandler is MLB Pipeline's No. 15 overall prospect.
The long ball accounted for all of the Pirates' offense in Sarasota. Oneil Cruz went the other way for an opposite field home run on a ball that caught a gust of wind and carried out of the ballpark. Nick Solak and Enmanuel Valdez also went deep for Pittsburgh.
Cruz'd out of here. 👋 pic.twitter.com/Imo2IqepEg
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) March 1, 2025
Pirates fans got the entire Cruz experience on Saturday. The 6-foot-7 center fielder misplayed one ball that led to the Orioles tying the game 2-2 on an RBI double by Luis Vazquez in the bottom of the fourth inning. Two innings later, Cruz made a diving catch to steal a hit from Ramón Urías.
Skenes made his first start of spring training and had an up-and-down outing, as he pitched three innings and allowed four hits, one run and one walk while striking out four batters. Skenes struggled with his command and was far from sharp, though it's more than fair to attribute that to it being his first outing and him working on new pitches like his cutter.
Paul Skenes, New Cutter? pic.twitter.com/T9pRvmxAjJ
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) March 1, 2025
Tanner Rainey earned the win, pitching a scoreless inning and striking out one batter. Thomas Harrington also toed the slab, pitching two innings and allowing one hit, one run and one walk while striking out one batter.
Pirates pitching prospect Eddy Yean earned the save, pitching a scoreless inning and allowing one hit and inducing a double play to thwart the Orioles' effort at a ninth inning rally.
