Mancini hits first home run in 11-9 win

Trey Mancini wasn't going to become a singles hitter in 2021. He's getting back into baseball shape and still trying to tap into the power that was so prevalent two years ago.

Mancini collected his first extra-base hit tonight and it was a long home run to left-center field off the Pirates' Edgar Santana in the fourth inning in the Orioles' sloppy 11-9 win in Bradenton.

Santana threw six consecutive sliders to Mancini and the last hung over the plate and was tattooed. It sounded loud on the Pirates radio feed and looked impressive on Orioles Twitter. The announcers called it as soon as Mancini made contact.

"That was a nuke," Dean Kremer said in his Zoom call. "That was hit pretty far. Everybody was with their jaw on the floor because of how far it was hit. I mean, everybody loved it. It's good to see him back to what he was in the previous years."

"I don't think he had an extra-base hit in over a year, so I know that felt good for him," said manager Brandon Hyde. "He blasted it in the wind, a four-iron that went a long way. It was good to see him really barrel up a baseball and stay behind it. I know he's been waiting for one of those, so I'm sure it was a great feeling for him."

The home run improved Mancini's average to .333 (9-for-27) with a .345 on-base percentage. He's expected to be at first base on opening day in Boston. He remains an inspiring comeback story.

"It felt really good," said Mancini, whose last home run was Sept. 28, 2019 in Boston. "It's been no different for a lot of spring trainings, it kind of takes me a while to get going again, start driving the ball like that and it always seems to come here at LECOM Park really when I break through power-wise. So it did feel really good to connect with one there and it had been a long time since I had that feeling for sure.

"I've been feeling good, I've driven some balls to the outfield that have been caught. It's not like I was just punching balls through the four-hole all spring, so I felt pretty good, but I just happened to not have an extra-base hit before tonight. So it really wasn't anything that I was thinking about or bothered me at all.

"I knew there would be some at-bats where it felt like I never left and some at-bats where I just felt overmatched for whatever reason and it's been like that pretty consistently for the most part. And even within the same game, one at-bat will feel great and then I'll strike out the next two and I'll be like, 'What is going on?' So I will have that thought sometimes, but that's how I am every spring. It's no different than how I've been my entire life kind of gearing up for a season."

Mancini is confident that he can be an everyday player in 2021 after spending last summer undergoing chemotherapy treatments following surgery to remove a cancerous tumor in his colon.

"I have no doubt at all," he said. "I wouldn't be out here if I did."

Mancini is 9-for-28 (.321) and primed to bat second or third in the order. Much of what he's experiencing in camp seems familiar to him.

"I remember in 2019 I was searching for the first three weeks and then the last week I kind of figured some things out," he said. "I felt pretty decent actually, better than normal, I'd say, but you still try to feel things out and repetition really brings out some things you need to work on. On the offensive side of the ball, I feel good, but at first base, I think I still have some things to work on, shaking out some rust out there, and I haven't shown as well out there as I think I could, so I'm really trying to focus a lot on defense being back at first base."

Austin Hays wears the look of a player who's going to storm into the opener with his bat in flames. Pedro Severino is just trying to heat up over the last few weeks.

Hays had a run-scoring single in the second inning and a run-scoring double in the sixth that raised his average to .387 and gave him a team-leading eight RBIs. Severino was 1-for-23 until he doubled in the third to score Anthony Santander.

They'll be written into the opening day lineup, with Hays in left field or center and Severino behind the plate. They're just having vastly different springs.

Kremer could follow John Means to the mound, as he's lined up to start the second game on April 3, but Hyde might do some shuffling.

He also might burn the scorebook after his club committed five errors tonight by the fifth inning, but the Orioles tied the game 9-9 in the sixth on Ryan Mountcastle's opposite-field two-run homer and led 11-9 in the seventh on Cedric Mullins' two-run shot off left-hander Sam Howard.

Kremer got roughed up in the third inning, allowing three runs after the Orioles scored five for him. He was charged with five runs, the last scoring after he exited, and five hits with two walks and three strikeouts in 3 1/3 innings to raise his ERA to 7.36.

"Felt good coming out, pretty much the whole time," Kremer said. "Just made some mistakes in the later innings and they capitalized on them."

"I thought he had good stuff," Hyde said. "First couple innings he threw the ball well. I thought his command left him a little bit the last couple innings, a lot of deep counts, got his pitch count way up. It's about strikes for Dean, it's about being able to attack hitters because his stuff plays. He's got multiple pitches he can get guys out with. When he's aggressive in the strike zone he has success."

Two runs scored in the fourth on throwing errors by Yolmer Sánchez and Freddy Galvis, and the Pirates weren't done. Same with the Orioles making mistakes.

Mountcastle lost Brian Goodwin's fly ball - he's had some challenges in left this spring - and Erik González scored on Sánchez's error on the same play. Fernando Abad replaced Kremer, induced a ground ball from Wilmer Difo and watched Galvis made the errant toss.

Galvis didn't cut off a ball on Todd Frazier's single, allowing both runners to take an extra base, and Rio Ruiz threw late to the plate on Ke'Bryan Hayes' grounder to tie the game. Severino committed his second error when he dropped Abad's throw to give the Pirates a 7-6 lead.

Frazier followed with a sacrifice fly before the Orioles settled down. The teams already had combined for seven errors, plus the Mountcastle misplay in left.

Abad has allowed eight runs (six earned) and nine hits in 4 1/3 innings. I noticed that only one of his five runs was earned earlier in the spring, but apparently a Ramón Urías error was changed to a hit and Abad's line blew up.

Hays committed the Orioles' fifth error of the night to raise the game total to eight in the fifth inning, and it cost Wade LeBlanc a run after two walks and Adam Frazier's ground ball. Mullins reached on a bunt single in the sixth, Frazier missed a pickoff throw for another error and Hays doubled to reduce the lead to 9-7.

Mountcastle hit his second spring homer after Gunnar Henderson walked and was picked off. A very weird night.

Ruiz singled in the seventh and Mullins hit his first home run - lefty versus lefty - to leave his average at .313 (10-for-32) with three doubles and a triple.

LeBlanc was charged only with the unearned run in three innings. He didn't allow a hit and struck out three.

Kremer retired the first two Pirates in the third, but Hayes stroked his second double of the night and scored on Bryan Reynolds' single, and Frazier crushed a 92 mph fastball for a two-run homer.

The Orioles took a while to implode, but the Pirates were atrocious right out of the gate, committing three errors in the first inning - two by left fielder Goodwin - and falling behind 2-0. Mancini singled and scored on Mountcastle's single.

Ruiz was hit by a Steven Brault pitch leading off the second, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on Hays' single. Brault left the game with tightness in his lat muscle.

Severino collected his RBI double in the third off Chris Stratton and he scored on Sánchez's single off Santana. Ruiz walked in the inning.