Joe Musgrove struck out five while allowing one hit and one walk in three scoreless innings, a strong performance for the Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander a day after he was named the Opening Day starter.
Guillermo Heredia drove in two runs with a fifth-inning single to center, a solid debut for the replacement in right field a day after the Pirates confirmed Gregory Polanco tested positive for covid-19.
But Kyle Crick blew a three-run lead in the eighth inning by giving up a bases-clearing double to Christian Arroyo, and the Cleveland Indians beat the Pirates, 5-3, on Saturday night at PNC Park in the first of a three-game exhibition series between the teams.
Trevor Williams will start for the Pirates on Monday night at Progressive Field. They play again Wednesday night at PNC Park.
Musgrove got three of the first four batters he faced to strike out, allowing only a Francisco Lindor single to right in the first. He walked designated hitter Franmil Reyes in the second, then doubled him off on a line drive by the next batter, Tyler Naquin. Musgrove struck out two more in the third before being replaced by Steven Brault in the fourth.
Pirates shortstop Erik Gonzalez started the fifth inning with a single to left off Cleveland starter Zach Plesac. Jacob Stallings followed with a double to left to set up Heredia’s two-run single to center to give the Pirates a 2-0 lead.
Josh Bell doubled off the center-field wall to start the sixth, and scored on a single by Gonzalez for a 3-0 lead. Gonzalez, who started at shortstop, was 2 for 3 with an RBI and a run scored against his former team.
Brault and Chad Kuhl pitched two scoreless innings each, but Crick struggled against Cleveland’s substitutes. He walked the first two batters he faced in the eighth, forced a popout but then gave up a single by Tyler Freeman and the three-run double by Arroyo to tie the game at 3-3. Dovydas Neverauskas replaced Crick, but Yu Chang doubled to score Arroyo for a 4-3 lead.
Cleveland added another run in the ninth against Nick Burdi, as Daniel Johnson hit a leadoff double, reached third on a passed ball by catcher John Ryan Murphy and scored on Greg Allen’s single to make it 5-3.
