BRADENTON, Fla. — The Pirates played their final Grapefruit League game at LECOM Park on Monday, with Trevor Williams starting in a 6-3 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies.
Spring Training, for the most part, can generally be perceived as a period of optimism for baseball teams and fans, and there was plenty of that on display on Monday.
Pirates reliever Bo Schultz pitched in his first spring training game of 2018 and his first game of competitive baseball since undergoing Tommy John surgery last year. Schultz won’t make the team — he was sent down after the game — but it’s still pretty incredible that the 32-year-old Schultz recovered quickly enough to involve himself in competitive games this spring.