Harvey on his outing, offense breaks out in win over Bucs

The Orioles began the second half of their 28-game spring training schedule today. And they'll look to see if some of their starting pitchers begin to dial it up with some better outings than the first half of the games delivered.

Right-hander Matt Harvey, the former Met who pitched to an 11.57 ERA over 11 2/3 innings with Kansas City last summer, had a mixed bag of an outing this afternoon. He allowed runs twice, but also put together a pair of 1-2-3 innings against Pittsburgh at Ed Smith Stadium. That gives him something to build on going forward.

And the Orioles offense, which produced just three runs over the last three games, broke out big today as the Orioles beat Pittsburgh 12-3. They scored eight runs in the seventh inning and produced their biggest run total of the spring.

Harvey's outing today got off to a rocky start. After he retired Adam Frazier on a grounder on two pitches, Ke'Bryan Hayes hit the first pitch he saw out to left. His first spring homer provided the Bucs a 1-0 lead. Gregory Polanco tripled with two outs but was stranded there as Jacob Stallings grounded to short.

Through the Birds' first 15 games, the team has just two scoreless outings from starting pitchers. Wade LeBlanc and Dean Kremer each did that once.

Harvey settled in better with a 1-2-3 top of the second inning on two strikeouts and a groundout to third, where Rio Ruiz made a nice play, per the O's radio broadcast. Harvey started the inning with a swinging strikeout of Erik González on a 93 mph sinker.

The Orioles took the lead in the last of the second and ended a home run drought in the process. Austin Hays and Freddy Galvis went back-to-back to start the inning for a 2-1 lead. It was Hays' second spring homer and the first for Galvis.

The Orioles had played eight straight games without a homer since their last one. They hit two on Friday, March 5 versus Toronto with Pat Valaika and Ryan Mountcastle connecting. Hays and DJ Stewart are the only Orioles with two home runs.

The Pirates produced three singles and a run off Harvey in the third to tie it 2-2. Frazier singled with one out, stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by catcher Chance Sisco. Hayes singled to right for his second RBI in three innings and a tie game.

Harvey put together his second 1-2-3 inning in the top of the fourth. He added two strikeouts in that frame, getting González for the first out and Jared Oliva for the third.

Harvey went four innings, allowing five hits and two runs with no walks and four strikeouts. Shawn Armstrong replaced him to start the top of the fifth. Harvey, who threw a simulated game in between his two spring starts, has a 7.50 ERA in the two games.

Harvey said today's outing was an improvement from his first spring game, when he allowed three runs in two innings on March 5.

"It definitely was better than the first one," he said. "I think today I was really throwing the four-seamer away to righties especially and it was painting low and away against them. And we were using that sinker to go in on righties. Especially later, that was opening up the slider down and away. Got a couple of good strikeouts in the fourth inning on a good curveball down and away and a couple of swing and misses on the slider. That was something we worked on this past week a lot, is changing eye levels and not getting so repetitive with fastballs low and away."

Harvey is someone with knowledge of third baseman Maikel Franco, a rumored Orioles acquisition. Harvey has played against and with Franco. They were teammates last year in Kansas City,

"The guy's got some serious pop and can do some damage for sure," Harvey said. "You know, having him at third - whoever it is, obviously I'm not in charge of those decisions - but he definitely has an unbelievable arm and plays a good third base. He can swing it. And from the short season last year that I spent time with him, he's a great teammate. So whatever obviously is decided, it will be good to have some extra bats always."

After missing several games due to an illness, Ruiz returned to the lineup today. Beginning this game 1-for-12 this spring, he doubled twice in three at-bats.

The Orioles took a 3-2 lead in the fifth as Anthony Santander doubled in the tiebreaking run. Cedric Mullins led off the inning with a walk, stole second and advanced to third on a balk. Santander brought him in to produce his second spring RBI.

The Orioles extended a one-run lead in the seventh with a huge eight-run inning.

Gunnar Henderson produced a two-run single for a 5-2 lead. He had been 0-for-4 this spring. But he batted with two in scoring position as Tyler Nevin had singled and advanced to third on Ryan McKenna's double. After a Chris Shaw single, Jahmai Jones blasted a three-run homer to left for an 8-2 lead. The ninth run scored on a wild pitch and Nevin's two-run single capped the big rally.

The big inning led an offensive breakout for the Orioles. They began today last in the majors in batting average (.197), on-base percentage (.295) and slugging (.290). They had been shut out twice in the last six games and scored just 13 runs over the previous seven games. In their three games before today, they had scored two, zero and one run. But today they had 15 hits, six for extra bases.

Armstrong gave up one hit over 1 1/3 innings and Fernando Abad came on the sixth to get two outs and strand a runner. Lefty Keegan Akin pitched the final three innings, allowing one run on three hits with no walks and five strikeouts.

The Orioles, who won for just the second time in the last 10 games, play Tampa Bay on Tuesday with Félix Hernández on the mound.