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Snell had just one blemish, a four-pitch walk to Pat Burrell in the second, but otherwise threw his full repertoire and landed 11 of 22 pitches for strikes.
"I felt great," Snell said. "I didn't feel like I was rushing myself or anything. I kept my pitches down, for the most part. My curveball was feeling really good, and my changeup's gotten better."
Jack Wilson's home run and RBI single staked the Pirates to a 2-0 lead through two innings. Sean Burnett gave up a run on three hits in the third, Jonah Bayliss one on a triple and wild pitch in the fifth to allow Philadelphia to tie.
The Pirates pulled back ahead, 4-2, in the fifth when Shane Youman -- who they released this offseason -- walked four batters, including two with bases loaded.
But Evan Meek, T.J. Beam and Hector Carrasco allowed one run each in Philadelphia's final three innings with Carrasco giving up Casey Smith's home run to left with two outs in the ninth.
The Phillies also won the teams' earlier B-game, 4-3, at Pirate City.
Chris Gomez and Neil Walker each went 2 for 4 with an RBI. Starter Jimmy Barthmaier had two ragged innings, including three runs, two hits, two walks, a hit batsman and wild pitch. Casey Fossum pitched two perfect innings of relief, Masumi Kuwata one.
Today: Zach Duke will start against the Cincinnati Reds' Aaron Harang at 1:05 p.m. in Sarasota, Fla. Ty Taubenheim, Dave Davidson, Ronald Belisario, Jesse Chavez, Danny Moskos and Marino Salas will follow.
Camp roster: 67, with 38 pitchers, 8 catchers, 13 infielders and 8 outfielders.
Injury update: Tom Gorzelanny (shoulder) still is scheduled to pitch one inning tomorrow, as well as a two-inning start Thursday. ... Damaso Marte (illness) threw his first live batting practice and did "so-so," he said. That fever at the start of spring training, he added, "knocked all my energy out." His first game action will be Thursday.
Battle lines: Some relievers hurt their cause yesterday, but Franquelis Osoria, the most likely to claim one of the four bullpen vacancies, surely did not: He whisked through a 1-2-3 sixth, getting two groundouts and a flyout on 11 pitches.
Most were his trademark sinker.
"I like his mound presence," Russell said, "and I like how he keeps the ball down."
Russell praised Ryan Doumit, too, after his spring debut as catcher. Bayliss' wild pitch skipped off his mitt, but Russell absolved Doumit by saying Bayliss "sprayed" the ball.
"I thought Ryan did fine," Russell said. "He did a good job of getting some pitchers to work to their strengths, I thought."
Doug Mientkiewicz, back home at first base, made two terrific plays: One was a stab of a high throw by Burnett in the fourth inning, the other a diving stop to his right in the sixth.
Fun in the sun: "Strike one!"
That was announcer Greg Brown's call to the crowd when broadcasting partner Steve Blass, wearing a Pirates cap and jersey, took the mound for the ceremonial first pitch of McKechnie's home opener. Blass' fastball -- OK, not that fast -- caught the outside corner and landed in the glove of ... Manny Sanguillen.
That recreated the battery for the Pirates' first game at McKechnie March 6, 1969 -- this is their 40th anniversary there -- and, of course, Game 7 of the 1971 World Series.
The Pirates' players stood and applauded in the dugout as did the 4,077 in attendance.
Inside pitch: The Pirates' ownership group has three fewer limited partners, according to the 2008 media guide distributed yesterday: Dick Brothers Investment Partners, the PDA Living Trust and the Downtown law firm Reed Smith were bought out by the remaining 18 limited partners.
Kevin McClatchy, the team's controlling owner until Bob Nutting took over in January 2007, remains one of the limited partners and retains his seat on the board of directors, which did not change.
Countdown: 32 days to the first pitch in Atlanta.
-- By Dejan Kovacevic
