Things worth mentioning…

• Opening Day starter? J.A. Happ was cruising today, pitching six strong innings. A Starling Marte home run in the sixth inning broke up a run of eight straight hitters retired by the lefty. He had a lot of Pirates guessing today, with a ton of called strikes on the edge of the zone. Of the five strikeouts he had today, four of them were looking. Happ finished the day allowing that one earned run over six innings, striking out five and walking one.
• I know it’s just spring and we shouldn’t get too high or too low on anybody, and I’m not trying to be dramatic, but Kendrys Morales is ruining my life. Morales struck out another two times today, bringing his spring total to 11 with just two walks.
• Justin Smoak hit his first homer of the spring and boy, did it sound nice. He was interviewed later during the game, and while he did sound relieved to get that first one, it did seem like he wasn’t really worried at all. Trust the process, right? Either way, still nice to see THIS again:

• Roberto Osuna allowed his first run of the spring. He gave up a sac fly after a lead off triple. He did strike out another hitter, though, his sixth in six innings.
• Tyler Clippard finished the game off with a clean inning. It still feels like he might be on the outside looking in, but he’s only pitched what, four innings this spring? It’s going to be interesting to see how both he and Luis Santos – who also pitched today and has done well all spring – finish their spring. There are a lot of intriguing bullpen options for manager John Gibbons.