Chase Anderson knew his chances of earning a spot in the starting rotation for the Pittsburgh Pirates were a long shot, but the 36-year-old right-hander was willing to try anyway.
It took Anderson two days to drive to Florida from Texas and even longer for him to make his first start of spring training. But he made it count, tossing three scoreless innings against the Atlanta Braves.
The Pirates provided support with home runs from Oneil Cruz, Jack Suwinski and Billy McKinney to roll to a 5-1 win Tuesday afternoon in a Grapefruit League game at LECOM Park in Bradenton.
Anderson is proving he still has something left, as he hasn’t given up a run or a hit but has two walks and three strikeouts in seven innings over three appearances this spring.
Anderson is 59-56 with a 4.35 ERA and 1.30 WHIP in 200 career starts over 10 seasons with the Arizona Diamondbacks, Milwaukee Brewers and Philadelphia Phillies before splitting last season between the Tampa Bay Rays and Colorado Rockies.
“The Pirates were interested in me going into ’21, and I signed with Philly that year. Looking back in hindsight, this might have been the better spot for me,” Anderson said upon arriving at Pirate City last month. “I’m here now. Looking forward to this opportunity. I just felt like it was the best opportunity to make a team and compete for a spot.”
After being claimed off waivers from the Rays in mid-May, Anderson was 1-6 with a 5.42 ERA and 1.43 WHIP last season for the Rockies, who went 8-9 in his 17 starts. He missed more than a month with shoulder inflammation but returned for a solid September that included seven no-hit innings against the San Francisco Giants on Sept. 15.
Against the Braves, Anderson relied mostly on his cutter and changeup to retire all nine batters he faced, getting David Fletcher looking at a full-count changeup at the bottom of the zone for a called third strike to start the third inning. Anderson got five fly outs and two groundouts before Andrew Velasquez popped up to second baseman Jared Triolo to end the third.
The Pirates gave him a 1-0 cushion in the first when designated hitter Cruz went opposite field for a leadoff home run. Cruz has homered in three consecutive games and four of his last five plate appearances, tying Henry Davis for the team lead with his fourth of spring training.
Colin Holderman replaced Anderson in the fourth inning and walked Forrest Wall, who advanced to second on Luis Guillorme’s single to center, reached third on Sean Murphy’s grounder to short for a forceout and scored on Jarred Kelenic’s grounder to first for a forceout to tie it.
Pirates left-hander Josh Fleming struck out one batter in two scoreless innings to get the win. The Pirates took a 2-1 lead when Suwinski drove an 0-1 slider from Joe Jimenez over the right-field fence for his second home run of the spring in the bottom of the sixth.
Ian Mejia replaced Jimenez, only to give up singles to Rowdy Tellez — who was replaced by pinch runner Tres Gonzalez — and Triolo and a 408-foot, three-run homer to McKinney on an 0-1 fastball for a 5-1 Pirates lead. McKinney, who is batting .364 (8 for 22) with eight walks, extended his on-base streak to 12 games. The Pirates have 34 homers this spring, which leads the majors.
Lefty Ryan Borucki, who pitched the seventh inning, has not been scored upon in four outings. Wily Peralta pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his third scoreless inning in four appearances.
Notes: Right-hander Roansy Contreras is expected to start for the Pirates when they visit Chris Bassitt and the Toronto Blue Jays at 1:07 p.m. Wednesday in Dunedin.
Kevin Gorman is a TribLive reporter covering the Pirates. A Baldwin native and Penn State graduate, he joined the Trib in 1999 and has covered high school sports, Pitt football and basketball and was a sports columnist for 10 years. He can be reached at kgorman@triblive.com.