Hayes has hits in six straight and seven of eight, batting .381 (8 for 21) during that stretch, with a double, three homers and six RBIs. twitter.com/JMackeyPG/stat…

Goodness gracious. Ke'Bryan Hayes with a rocket to left. Unless that's Shaquille ... nah, just kidding. Still a homer, though. He has a three-hit game. Key has looked excellent this spring. It's 5-5 T7.

Jose Hernandez struggling after coming on in relief of Roansy Contreras. Allows four straight singles. Tigers score two to take a 4-3 lead. Contreras: 3.1 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K

The Pirates optioned Travis Swaggerty to Triple-A Indianapolis because they believe he has to play. We're gonna have plenty of roster talk in the coming days, as this was one of several dominoes that need to fall: post-gazette.com/sports/pirates…

Here's what I know about the Bryan Reynolds situation, as well as what he said before tonight's game: post-gazette.com/sports/pirates…

"Home run one" as announced up here for Connor Joe. Deep fly ball to left. Follows a Bryan Reynolds double. It's 2-0 Pirates in the first.

Joked with Bryan Reynolds we needed to ask him about his shoes. Sorta wish we would've done that over contract stuff. "I don’t have anything to report on that." Says he would theoretically like to have an opening day deadline. "If I was drawing it up, it would be pretty firm."

Pirates have optioned Travis Swaggerty and Tucupita Marcano to Triple-A Indianapolis.

(2/2) There was work done to rebuild the relationship and get on the same page, and they also agreed at that point to shush it with media. Not sure on figures exchanged but does sound like things are in a better place than they were.

(1/2) What I know about Bryan Reynolds following up on @JonHeyman’s tweet: Bob Nutting said earlier this spring they wanted to get it done (see below). Sides were upset over how it was left — the leaked trade request and what was perceived as a junk offer: post-gazette.com/sports/pirates…

Travis Swaggerty and Canaan Smith-Njigba, Kevin Plawecki's locker, Tyler Heineman's defense and more. Pirates position player battles are going down to the wire. And changing: post-gazette.com/sports/pirates…

@battling_bucs I look at their bench as four spots: 1. Backup catcher (Heineman/Delay/TBD) 2. Fourth outfielder (Joe) 3. Backup infielder (Owings/Mathias) 4. Wild card (Smith-Njigba, Swaggerty, Bae) Would Bae address 3 and 4, yes. But Swag and CSN have been better. Far better.

Talked to Pirates president Travis Williams about a bunch of stuff yesterday. For this piece, asked his thoughts on the direction of the team, growing payroll and whether there could be extensions coming. Also an interesting nugget about the RSN situation: post-gazette.com/sports/pirates…

Travis Swaggerty/Canaan Smith-Njigba OF competition over the past week: Swaggerty 5 GP ... 1 start Smith-Njigba 5 GP ... 4 starts Aren't they competing for the same thing? And nothing against Canaan. He's been terrific. But sure not giving Swaggerty much of a chance.

@FatherNaugle It is a focus for him, and he might suck at it. That’s for fans to decide. I’m obviously not a fan. You’re yelling at me like I had something to do with your ST experience — or, frankly, that I care. I don’t work for the team. Be as pissed at them as you want.

@FatherNaugle I never said Frank was less concerned about the fan experience. I said he was more involved on the baseball side than Travis.

Coming up in about 15 minutes. twitter.com/jrown32/status…

Fun pod here with Fort, who had a funny way of phrasing player stress late in spring training. twitter.com/thefortmckenry…

@zmolsz Per Travis Williams today to me (and others): Nothing will change. On cable or streaming. At least for ‘23.

FINAL: Red Sox 7, Pirates 4 Oviedo: 4 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 7 K, 1 HR Reynolds 3 hits, 2B … Hayes & Bae 2 hits Castro HR … Smith-Njigba RBI (10, T-1 PIT) PIT now 9-14-3

Interesting. Kevin Plawecki no longer has a locker here. Would imagine there’s at least one move coming. Tyler Heineman and Jason Delay do, FWIW.

I really enjoy covering Johan Oviedo. Good dude, honest. Asked him how much he's thought about breaking camp with the big club: "Definitely some anxiety. I just want to go to Pittsburgh, pitch and give the team a chance to win games. Hopefully we can get there."

.@theFortMcKenry and I recorded this week's edition of Pitching In last night. We talked about the WBC and how to make it even better, plus plenty of roster thoughts on the Pirates. Subscribe here: pitchinginpodcast.com

Man, Johan Oviedo has been good today. Nine up, nine down, five strikeouts. Has thrown 32 pitches, 25 strikes. Pirates and Red Sox tied at 2. Bobby Dalbec 2-run HR off Duane Underwood Jr. Canaan Smith-Njigba double and Ji Hwan Bae single.

Here's my first story off the Travis Williams interview from earlier: twitter.com/PGSportsNow/st…

Travis Williams on the RSN situation: "There will not be any interruption of Pirates broadcasts. I’m comfortable saying that. We’re still working out what that looks like with AT&T and Discovery in the short-term, then obviously Major League Baseball in the long-term."

I asked Pirates president Travis Williams what happened to PiratesFest. Here's his answer. He started by explaining '21 was impacted by COVID, '22 by the lockout.

Another cool thing from Pirates president Travis Williams in my interview with him: PNC Park will be displaying spray charts and other more advanced numbers thanks to the scoreboard/ribbon board/control room upgrades.

Just spoke one-on-one with Travis Williams. Will tweet some stuff out as I transcribe. On out-of-town scoreboard: "We heard from the diehard fans, ‘We want the out-of-town scoreboard back. It’s a big part of the overall experience.’ And we did. This year it’s coming back."

David Bednar is back at LECOM Park and talked about some stuff, including how much he loved the World Baseball Classic and how he feels more prepared than ever for the regular season to start: post-gazette.com/sports/pirates…