Pirates Rough Up Rays In Spring Opener At McKechnie

Big league baseball made its return to McKechnie Field when the Pittsburgh Pirates hosted the hometown Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday in Bradenton's first spring training game of 2011.

The Pirates got the best of the Rays, before a packed house of 6,376. Mayor Wayne Poston threw out the ceremonial first pitch to kick off another season of Pirates baseball in Bradenton, the club's 43rd in the Friendly City.

Before the game, the team also held a moment of silence in remembrance of two losses the Pirates family suffered in the past year — special assistant Bill Lajoie, and former manager Chuck Tanner, who led the club to the World Series title in 1979.