Pirates Turn JetBlue Into Batting Practice, Bury Red Sox 16–7
Rafaela and Contreras go deep, but Boston pitching staff donates souvenir baseballs all afternoon
If you showed up to JetBlue Park hoping to see crisp pitching and tight defense… I hope you at least enjoyed the sunshine.
The Pirates walked into Fort Myers and treated the Red Sox pitching staff like a preseason tee-ball clinic, rolling to a 16–7 demolition that was somehow worse than the final score suggests.
Yes, it was spring training.
No, that doesn’t mean you’re allowed to give up sixteen.
Game at a Glance
Early Warning Signs
The first inning? Fine.
Ground ball. Double play. Nothing scary.
Then the second inning arrived and Konnor Griffin decided he was Barry Bonds for the afternoon.
Two-run homer. 2–0 Pirates.
By the third, Jake Mangum tripled and scored. 3–0.
By the fourth? Griffin went yard again. And then the wheels didn’t just wobble — they flew off the chassis.
Nick Gonzales doubled. Mangum singled. Suddenly it was 6–0 and the Pirates were jogging around the bases like they had dinner reservations.
Rafaela Tries CPR
Down 6–0, someone finally checked for a pulse.
Ceddanne Rafaela launched a solo homer in the fourth to make it 6–1.
Good swing. Clean contact. Momentary hope.
Unfortunately, the pitching staff responded by immediately allowing three more runs in the fifth.
Wild pitch. Walk. RBI single. Hit batsman. Just a full sampler platter of “how not to get out of an inning.”
10–1.
The Fifth-Inning Tease
To their credit, the Sox did show some fight.
Trevor Story singled. Jarren Duran walked. Two passed balls scored a run. Then Willson Contreras crushed a two-run homer.
Just like that, 10–4.
You could almost talk yourself into it. “Hey, maybe this turns into one of those weird 13–12 spring games.”
Spoiler alert: it did not.
The Pitching Carousel of Doom
Every new arm that entered seemed determined to keep the scoreboard operator busy.
Nick Yorke tripled. Sac fly. 11–4.
Walks stacked up in the seventh. Bases loaded. Free run. 12–5.
By the eighth, a triple plus throwing error added insult to injury. 13–7.
And then in the ninth? A two-run homer and a double for good measure.
16–7.
If you’re counting at home, that’s:
18 hits allowed
Multiple home runs
Wild pitches
Hit batters
Walks in bunches
And one defensive error just to round things out
Spring training or not, that’s a pitching meeting waiting to happen.
Offensive Notes (Because We Have to Mention Something)
Ceddanne Rafaela: Solo homer
Willson Contreras: Two-run homer
Trevor Story: Multi-hit afternoon
Tsung-Che Cheng: RBI single late
There were some competitive at-bats sprinkled in. But when you’re constantly hitting down six, down eight, down ten… it’s cosmetic.
You don’t win slugfests when you only bring half the slugs.
The Bigger Concern
It’s February. Calm down. Nobody’s panicking.
But here’s what matters:
The Pirates didn’t just squeak by. They squared up everything. Fastballs. Mistakes. Hanging breaking balls. All of it.
When multiple pitchers get hit hard in the same afternoon, that’s not “just one bad inning.” That’s command issues. That’s location. That’s sequencing.
And if that leaks into March? Now it’s a conversation.
Final Thoughts
Spring games are about evaluation.
Today’s evaluation?
The bats are fine.
The lineup has pop.
The bullpen depth? Still under construction.
You can survive a quiet offensive day.
You can’t survive allowing sixteen.
The Red Sox got punched in the mouth for nine innings and spent most of the afternoon looking for the ice pack.
On to the next one — preferably one where the other team doesn’t hit like it’s Home Run Derby.