The game: Tom Gorzelanny made an early exit, but top prospects Steve Pearce and Andrew McCutchen rallied the Pirates past the Toronto Blue Jays, 8-7, yesterday at McKechnie Field.

Gorzelanny, making his second outing since that early left shoulder soreness, fell two outs short of his scheduled two-inning start and was charged with five runs.

"I would have taken me out, too," he said.

The first inning was "really easy," as he put it, with three ground-ball outs on nine pitches. But the second led off with Vernon Wells doubling, then two walks. Marco Scutaro's sacrifice fly brought one run, Rod Barajas' single another.

When Gorzelanny hit Sal Fasano with his 27th pitch of the inning to load the bases anew, manager John Russell replaced him with Jesse Chavez, whose introductory fastball to David Eckstein resulted in a grand slam and a 6-3 Toronto lead.

Russell described Gorzelanny as having "arm slot" issues, and Gorzelanny was left shrugging.

"I don't know if I was trying to throw too hard or do too much," he said.

He casually but convincingly dismissed a question about the shoulder.

"Everything's fine. I just need to keep building up."

Pearce's two-run home run in the first inning, his team-best third of the spring, went high to left off Dustin McGowan's high heat and put the Pirates ahead, 3-0.

Xavier Nady's solo shot in the fifth, the other way off a Casey Janssen fastball, cut Toronto's lead to 7-5.

That was the score when the Pirates entered the bottom of the ninth and loaded the bases with no outs. Brian Bixler's sacrifice fly brought one run, and McCutchen's two-run single through the left side ended the Pirates' six-game losing streak.

McCutchen had been hitless in his 13 previous at-bats.

"Man, that felt great," he said.

Today: The Pirates have their first split-squad doubleheader.

In the 1:05 p.m. game against Cincinnati in Sarasota, Fla., John Van Benschoten will start against the Reds' Johnny Cueto. Luis Munoz, Ronald Belisario, Juan Perez, T.J. Beam and Romulo Sanchez will follow.

In the 7:05 nightcap at McKechnie, Paul Maholm will start against the Reds' Bronson Arroyo. Ty Taubenheim, Adam Bernero, Jaret Wright, Brian Rogers and Hector Carrasco will follow.

Camp roster: 63, with 37 pitchers, five catchers, 13 infielders and eight outfielders.

The Pirates reassigned reliever Josh Sharpless and catcher Carlos Maldonado to minor-league camp, and did so with a purpose: Management clearly was irked with both for having failed to follow prescribed offseason conditioning programs.

"Those who have done everything they needed to do are still here," general manager Neal Huntington said. "Those who didn't have been weeded out."

Sharpless worked out with a former scholastic teammate at Washington & Jefferson College this offseason, but the Pirates wanted all players in or near Pittsburgh to train with their coaches at PNC Park.

Maldonado, who always has had weight issues, expected him to be slimmer than his usual 6 feet 1, 255 pounds.

Injury update: Reliever Damaso Marte made an impressive spring debut, allowing a squibber single and striking out one in a scoreless eighth.

Most important, as per the Pirates' plans to use him against more than left-handers, was his freezing of right-handed Reed Johnson with a biting slider.

"I'm feeling stronger," Marte said.

There remains no timetable for a full return for second baseman Freddy Sanchez (shoulder), whose throwing remained at three-quarters strength in drills yesterday.

Battle lines: Doug Mientkiewicz singled as part of that ninth-inning rally and, more important, cleanly fielded the two grounders his way at third base as a late replacement.

Ryan Doumit has impressed management with better mechanics behind the plate, but he is 1 for 11 with four walks with the bat, including two strikeouts and a flyout yesterday.

Fun in the sun: The fun at McKechnie, for the first time, will be under the lights tonight.

The eight giant steel towers erected over the past year, part of $18 million in renovations to McKechnie and Pirate City, will bring the first spring night game in the 85-year-old field's history. And, according to the Associated Press, there will be no more daylight-only ballparks used by any major-league team.

Some welcome the move that will be accompanied by fireworks and other fanfare tonight, but others are left a little nostalgic.

"Spring training is for the daytime," said Elmer Gray, the Pirates' elder scout and the man who signed Barry Bonds. "But I guess some folks might like it. We'll see."

Inside pitch: How miffed were the Pirates at Sharpless and Maldonado?

Consider that, according to one team source, there could have been more cuts made yesterday, but management wanted to send a clear signal that no one else should be lumped in with those two.

Those other cuts could come today.

Countdown to Atlanta: 24 days.