Pirates Rally Past Phillies, 6-5

So the Phillies keep losing this Spring Training. No worries. None at all.

Ryan Howard smashed his fifth Grapefruit League home run, but the Pirates scored three runs in the ninth inning off Blaine Neal to win, 6-5. Howard also walked in the game; he is hitting .286 on the spring.

Joe Blanton had 4.2 innings of work, giving up two runs on four hits while striking out two. He was backed mainly by Ryan Madson, who gassed up all three of the outs he recorded, and Scott Nestor, who cruised through his own inning.

Jason Donald went 2-for-5 with a triple for the Phils, who will next play at the Houston Astros’ facility in Kissimmee, Fla. Carlos Carrasco will start with Andrew Carpenter waiting in the wings.

Tim Malcolm

Tim first found the Phillies as a little infant at Veteran’s Stadium, cheering on a Juan Samuel game-winning home run in his very first game. With the pinstripes in his blood, he witnessed Terry Mulholland’s 1990 no-hitter, “Steve Carlton Night” at the Vet, game three of the 1993 World Series, countless games during the charmed 2008 championship season and various road excursions. Since November 2007 Tim’s been writing about them daily at Phillies Nation, becoming one of the world’s most popular Phillies scribes. You can catch him on Twitter and Facebook, as well. When he’s not talking about the Phils he’s relaxing with a St. Bernardus ABT 12 or one of his many favored brews.