BRADENTON, Fla. -- Kyle Crick’s first thought after surgery to repair his right index finger was, “You’ve gotta get back on the mound.”

The date was Sept. 10, 2019, and every day since then had built up to Sunday afternoon, when the Pirates right-hander made his spring debut in the seventh inning of the Pirates’ 13-9 win over the Blue Jays at LECOM Park.

“The last 4 1/2, five months, that’s been my thought process every day,” Crick said. “Doing what I can to get, not just back to normal, but better than I was before.”

With a little less than a month to go before Opening Day, how Pittsburgh’s bullpen will shape up is still anyone’s guess. Keone Kela’s closer role was set long before Pirates manager Derek Shelton made an official announcement on Feb. 12, but there are still a handful of qualified candidates who are using the spring to prove they can fill the gap between the starters and Kela.

• Holmes to miss 4-6 weeks with fractured foot

“[Seeing Crick] was really encouraging,” Shelton said. “Any time you see a guy that’s come off a surgery, and he runs out to the mound and pitches, and he runs off the mound, and he’s got a smile and he’s healthy, it’s good.”

Crick held his own on Sunday, allowing just a one-out single while registering a pair of groundouts and a flyout in his first game action since the Sept. 8 injury that ended his 2019 season. A healthy Crick is a favorite to break camp with the team, so what happens in the next few hours and days are crucial.

Crick said he’s searching for that “normal soreness” he’s come to expect after an outing, and he will welcome it for the first time in a long time.

“There was a lot of emotions in [my outing], nerves being one of them, but more so, it was excitement,” he said. “I was just thrilled to be back out there on the bump.”

Musgrove back to good
Joe Musgrove acknowledged after his outing that he’s been bothered recently by “pinching” in his right shoulder. While it hasn’t hampered any of his spring work, Musgrove was at the point of concern that the discomfort hadn’t gone away.

The issue had cleared up by Sunday, when Musgrove was able to control the Blue Jays’ powerful young lineup early with a pair of efficient, hitless innings out of the gate.

Toronto got its timing down in the third inning, with Anthony Alford belting a leadoff triple. Musgrove then rang up Billy McKinney before Bo Bichette clubbed a two-run homer. A walk to Cavan Biggio brought up Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who grounded into a double play to end the inning and Musgrove’s outing.

“It’s nice to face some good competition,” said Musgrove, who struck out two and walked a pair. “Some bigger names and some hype behind them. I kind of went at them and challenged them with a lot of fastballs.

“Getting to work my fastballs in and my fastballs up today was a big key for me.”

This and that
• Sunday was a homecoming of sorts for Toronto righty T.J. Zeuch, who worked 1 1/3 innings against the Pirates. Pittsburgh hit three seventh-inning homers off Zeuch, who is a University of Pittsburgh alum and the Blue Jays’ 2016 first-round Draft pick.

• The Pirates hit six doubles and three home runs against Toronto.

• Pittsburgh employed a hefty defensive shift against Blue Jays designated hitter Biggio in the second inning, sending second baseman Adam Frazier to left-center field and shifting shortstop Cole Tucker behind second base. Biggio drew a walk.

Up next
The Pirates will travel to Dunedin on Monday for a 1:07 p.m. ET matchup against the Blue Jays, the second of five spring meetings between the teams. Top prospect Mitch Keller is slated to make his second Grapefruit League start (third outing) for Pittsburgh. The right-hander struck out three in 1 2/3 innings on Wednesday against the Red Sox.