Pirates play to tie with Tigers

Predicting how players will perform in the regular season based on spring training statistics can be tricky.

Jared Triolo, for example, batted .310 last spring but went on to hit only .216 in the regular season for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Bailey Falter struggled immensely (7.88 ERA) throughout spring training a year ago but earned a rotation spot and ended up showing promise over 28 regular-season starts.

Throughout the last few weeks, Pirates fans and management have probably wondered what to make of newly added starter Andrew Heaney’s spring training, as he brought an 18.00 ERA over two starts into his third outing Friday night at LECOM Park in Bradenton, Fla.

Taking the hill against the Detroit Tigers, the 33-year-old lefty, inked to a one-year, $5.25 million deal that constitutes the largest free-agent contract issued by the Pirates this offseason, pitched four innings in an eventual 8-8 tie.

Both clubs battled back and forth for the lead in the last few innings, with Detroit tying the score in the ninth.

In the bottom of the ninth, after doubling, the Pirates’ Endy Rodriguez was thrown out at home to end the game trying to score on a Nick Solak’s soft grounder up the third-base line.

For Heaney (0-2, 11.25 ERA), Friday represented something of a step in the right direction, as he delivered his longest outing of spring, allowing four runs (two earned) on five hits while striking out four with zero walks.

After Heaney and Tigers starter Keider Montero departed the game, Detroit was up 4-0 heading into the bottom of the fifth inning.

But the Pirates scored six runs in the frame, five of which were charged to Jordan Balazovic, to go up 6-4. Bryan Reynolds, Oneil Cruz, Nick Gonzales (two-run) and Isiah Kiner- Falefa collected RBI singles.

In the seventh, Detroit got to Peter Strzelecki for three runs on three hits, including a pair of RBI doubles, to get back in front 7-6.

However, Alika Williams delivered in the bottom of the eighth, scoring Ji Hwan Bae with a two-out RBI single to tie the score before Matt Gorski’s team-leading 13th RBI of the spring put the Pirates ahead 8-7.

That lead didn’t last long, as Ryan Borucki allowed a game-tying solo homer in the ninth to Ryan Kreidler, his second of the game.

Heaney, who took a no-decision, retired the first four men he faced, but with one out in the second inning, Dillion Dingler got the Tigers on the board, crushing a hanging slider over the left-field wall to make it 1-0.

In the third, Heaney ran into more trouble, allowing three more runs, one of which was earned.

To start, Kriedler connected for another towering solo homer, giving the Tigers a 2-0 lead, before Jahmai Jones took second base on a fielding error by Triolo.

The error was a costly one, as Jones soon came around to score, courtesy of an RBI single by Andy Ibanez. Justyn-Henry Malloy followed with a double, putting men on second and third with one out.

Detroit went in front 4-0 thanks to a Spencer Torkelson RBI groundout.

The Pirates had two additional errors in the fourth (including a Heaney throwing error to first base), but Heaney struck out Ryan Kreidler to avert any more damage.

Montero kept the Pirates’ bats at bay through the first four innings, allowing only two hits while striking out four.

The Pirates’ big fifth inning was aided by solid plate discipline by Tommy Pham, Joey Bart and Andrew McCutchen, with all three drawing walks.

Before Strzelecki’s rough seventh, Colin Holderman and Caleb Ferguson delivered scoreless frames for the Pirates.