BRADENTON, Fla. — Welcome to spring training, where the rules are made up and the games do not matter.
The Orioles and Pittsburgh Pirates played the bottom of the ninth inning of Tuesday’s exhibition at LECOM Field without umpires. The half-inning was unofficial, as the top of the ninth ended with Baltimore, the road team, losing 7-4. In a typical game, the bottom of the ninth would not need to be played, but because this is spring training, the Orioles had another pitcher they wanted to make sure got his work in and thus asked the Pirates to play another three outs.
The umpiring crew was uninterested in being involved, Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said.
