Pirates power by Red Sox

Associated Press

BRADENTON, Fla. — Pedro Alvarez and Russell Martin hit two-run homers off Brandon Workman, who started in place of injured Jake Peavy, and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Boston Red Sox 7-6 on Monday.

Pittsburgh leadoff batter Starling Marte reached on an infield single in the first that stopped an 0-for-9 start, and Alvarez homered to right off Workman with two outs. Marte singled in the third, and Martin followed with a drive to left, his second homer in two days.

Workman gave up five runs and five hits in 2 1-3 innings in place of Peavy, the right-hander who accidentally cut his left index finger with a fishing knife last weekend.

Pirates starter Francisco Liriano struck out three and walked one in two hitless innings.

Mike Carp, trying to win a bench job with the Red Sox, hit a two-run homer against Bryan Morris in the eighth.

Liriano zipped through his two innings on just 25 pitches. After giving way to Edinson Volquez, Liriano threw 10 more in the bullpen before calling it a day. “I felt a lot better about my fastball command today,” said Liriano, who’s made two starts. “The sinker was a lot better.”

Koji Uehara and Junichi Tazawa each pitched one scoreless inning. Earlier this spring training, Farrell planned not to use either reliever until about one-third of the way through the exhibition schedule.

“They’re going to have ample rest between their outings,” Farrell said. “We still target roughly seven outings in spring training for both of them, so we can use the schedule to our advantage.”

Farrell said Uehara is a different — and better — pitcher than he was when he first was in the majors as a starter in 2009 with the Baltimore Orioles.

“He always had the ability to strike people out,” Farrell said. “The deception and the split-finger were evident, even as a starter. But you always wondered how deep into a game could he maintain his stuff and continue to be effective. He’s obviously made a very seamless transition to the bullpen.”

Tigers 8, Cardinals 5

LAKELAND, Fla. — Jhonny Peralta homered twice against his former team, going deep in his only plate appearances Monday in the St. Louis Cardinals’ 8-5 loss to the Detroit Tigers.

Peralta played for the Tigers for three and a half seasons before signing with St. Louis as a free agent this offseason. He said Cardinals manager Mike Matheny asked a couple days earlier if he wanted to make the spring training trip to Lakeland to face Detroit. Peralta accepted that offer — then made his visit worthwhile with two solo homers off left-hander Drew Smyly.

Peralta’s first homer came on the first pitch he saw.

“First pitch — fastball,” Peralta said. “And then Smyly said something to me. I don’t know he said, but he was kidding around.”

Smyly clarified moments later.

“I said, ‘I don’t think I’ve seen you swing at the first pitch like that in the two years I’ve known you,’” he said.

Nick Castellanos homered for the Tigers. Castellanos, Miguel Cabrera, Victor Martinez and Austin Jackson had two hits apiece.

Detroit, which played a 10-inning scoreless tie against Atlanta on Sunday, scored seven runs in the first three innings Monday.

Former University of Hawaii and Kamehameha-Hawaii standout Kolten Wong went 0 for 3 for the Cardinals.

PERALTA’S IMPACT

Peralta hit .303 with 11 homers for the Tigers last year — despite missing significant time thanks to a 50-game suspension that was part of baseball’s drug investigation.

Even before his two-homer outing, Matheny spoke highly of Peralta’s dependability.

“I think we know what we’re going to have as far as his performance on the field,” Matheny said. “You guys have probably spent enough time around him to know he’s not making a lot of requests. He just does whatever needs to be done. … When I suggested to him early on that I was going to try and structure his games to where he could come here and play — I think it’s good for the fans to be able to see one of their former players. It’s always nice for him to be able to catch up with some of his teammates.”

Twins (ss) 9, Orioles 2

SARASOTA, Fla. — Chris Davis hit a long home run to center field in the Baltimore Orioles’ 9-2 loss to a Minnesota Twins’ split-squad on Monday.

Davis, the major league home run leader last year with 53, hit his first — and the Orioles’ first — of spring training in the fourth game.

Bud Norris started for the Orioles and threw two shutout innings, allowing one run, striking out two and walking one. Kevin Gausman followed and gave up a run on two hits in two innings. Gausman also struck out two and walked one.

Vance Worley threw three shutout innings for the Twins, giving up one hit and striking out one.

Minnesota scored seven runs in the ninth to break a 2-all tie. The big hit was Wilkin Ramirez’s three-run home run.

Padres 7, Giants 2

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Two starting pitchers looking to rejuvenate their careers, right-handers Josh Johnson of San Diego and Tim Lincecum of San Francisco, made successful spring debuts in the Padres’ 7-2 victory over the Giants.

Johnson, who signed a one-year, $8 million free-agent contract with San Diego after spending the 2013 season with Toronto, pitched two hitless innings and struck out two. He was on the disabled list for part of 2013 and had surgery on Oct. 1 to remove bone spurs and loose cartilage in his right elbow.

Lincecum, who signed a two-year, $35 million deal in the offseason after finishing 10-14 with a 4.37 ERA in 2013, gave up a hit, walked one and struck out one in two innings. He was the National League’s Cy Young Award winner in 2008 and 2009.

The Padres’ Alexi Amarista broke a scoreless tie with a home run to lead off what would prove to be a six-run sixth, and Tommy Medica hit a two-run shot.

San Diego was 0-4-1 entering the game.

Mets 6, Braves 2

KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Freddy Garcia ran his streak of perfect innings to five in his bid to earn a spot in the Braves’ rotation, Mets’ top prospect Noah Syndergaard pitched two scoreless innings in his Grapefruit League debut and New York beat Atlanta 6-2.

The 21-year-old Syndergaard struck out leadoff hitter Jason Heyward on a 98 mph fastball, then Evan Gattis on three fastballs to start the second. The right-hander allowed just one hit over two scoreless innings.

“That’s a lot of weight coming off my shoulders right there,” Syndergaard said of striking out Heyward. “I feel like I’m pitching to my strengths, and one of them is being able to locate my fastball really well. It was very encouraging, because I know that lineup is a real big threat. It’s got a lot of thunder.”

In contrast, Garcia, 37, used an assortment of mostly slow stuff to retire nine straight Mets, three on strikeouts, after retiring all six Detroit batters he faced while fanning two in the spring opener.

Syndergaard, acquired from Toronto as part of the trade for R.A. Dickey last year, is projected to start the season with Triple-A Las Vegas, but he has already shown his potential.

“He’s got all the traits of the good ones,” said Mets manager Terry Collins, who has been as impressed with Syndergaard’s composure as with his stuff. “He’s going to be a really, really good pitcher. . He’s on track to be special.”

Ryan Doumit got the hit off Syndergaard, lining a fastball to the opposite field with one out in the second inning to cap an eight-pitch at-bat, but the veteran switch-hitter was still impressed.

“You see a lot of guys that throw 96 and 97 mph during the season, that they’re not throwing 96 or 97 right now,” Doumit said. “I didn’t know anything about the kid coming into today, but I sure won’t forget his name now.”

“He was throwing gasoline,” Garcia said. “Pretty darn good.”

Astros 4, Marlins 0

JUPITER, Fla. — Houston Astros left-hander Dallas Keuchel pitched so efficiently that after he left the game, he went to the bullpen to get more work and threw a simulated inning.

He didn’t allow any runs then, either.

Making his first start of spring training, Keuchel needed only 17 pitches in two scoreless innings, and the Astros beat the Miami Marlins 4-0.

All but three of Keuchel’s pitches were strikes. He allowed one baserunner, on a single, before his final pitch induced a double play.

“Out of the gate my fastball command was pretty good,” Keuchel said. “Early in the spring you don’t want to be too fine, because guys don’t want to be out here too long. You want to attack the zone and get as many strikes as possible.”

Chia-Jen Lo, Houston’s eighth pitcher, threw a scoreless ninth to complete a four-hitter. Houston improved to 3-1 after losing a franchise record 111 games last season.

“It’s better than being 1-3,” manager Bo Porter said. “Whenever you get into competition, whether you’re playing marbles or a spring-training baseball game, the object is to win.”

Miami starter Jacob Turner went two innings and gave up one run, on Marc Krauss’ homer. Krauss went 2 for 4 and is 5 for 9 in spring training.

Houston’s J.D. Martinez doubled home a run in the seventh. George Springer walked four times and scored twice.

Angels 3, D-backs 2

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Garrett Richards threw three shutout innings, leading the Los Angeles Angels to a 3-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.