Bradenton Spring Training

BRADENTON -- We've got another tie at McKechnie Field.

For the third time this spring, the Pirates tied an opponent, drawing the Red Sox 2-2 in nine innings. Francisco Liriano overwhelmed Boston for the first four innings and both teams' bats woke up in the later innings to leave McKechnie with a draw.

The Sox were the first on the board during the fifth inning when Allen Craig drove Rusney Castillo home on a single to left, but by the end of the seventh Pittsburgh seized the lead.

First, a single by Corey Hart scored Starling Marte to tie the game in the sixth before a squeeze play put the Pirates ahead in the seventh.

With Gorkys Hernandez on third, Gustavo Nunez dropped down a bunt and Hernandez raced home. Red Sox relief pitcher Matt Barnes didn't have a play at home and settled for the out at first.

In the top of the ninth, Boston knotted the score on a single by Blake Tekkote and when Pittsburgh went quietly in the bottom half of the inning the game came to an end.

-David Wilson