CLEARWATER, Fla. – Steven Brault is competing for a spot on the Pirates’ Opening Day roster this spring, so he doesn’t necessarily have the luxury of taking time to tinker. That’s why he worked in the offseason. He modified his delivery, sought out feedback, adjusted accordingly and never stopped throwing.

So Brault felt some satisfaction after his first Spring Training outing against the Phillies on Saturday at Spectrum Field. The left-hander allowed one hit and struck out two batters in two scoreless innings. But the most encouraging numbers were 23 and 19 -- he threw only 23 pitches, and 19 of them were strikes.

“I’ve been working on all this stuff,” said Brault, who is vying for the fifth spot in the rotation. “I don’t want to come out here and just walk 12 people in a row, then it’s just like, ‘Well, great work this offseason, guy.’”

Brault led the Pirates with 57 walks last season, so he spent all that time preparing and playing catch this offseason to improve his command. He tweaked his delivery to make it as simple and direct as possible. So far, so good.

“It felt really good. Obviously, it doesn’t mean everything is perfect or anything like that,” Brault said. “It’s just one outing, but it’s really nice to take a whole offseason of work, not take the time off, completely change a lot of stuff and come out and be able to get the results that I wanted.”

Still, Brault had to work his way out of trouble after consecutive errors by right fielder Patrick Kivlehan and third baseman Colin Moran put runners on the corners in the first innings. Brault and catcher Jacob Stallings decided to attack Rhys Hoskins with a first-pitch changeup -- an offering that has improved with Brault’s higher arm slot -- and Hoskins popped it up for the second out. Brault struck out J.T. Realmuto to escape the inning.

“The results that I want are attacking the zone and getting ahead of hitters consistently. That’s what I did,” Brault said. “As far as getting the outs and the strikeouts and the quick outs, I believe all of that will come because I’m getting ahead in the count and throwing all my pitches for strikes.”

Game report

The Pirates won their Grapefruit League opener, 3-2, despite recording only three hits. One of them was a double by shortstop Kevin Newman, who went on to score from third base on a wild pitch.

Outfield prospect Jason Martin provided more power in the ninth, launching a two-run homer to deep right-center field off right-hander Luke Leftwich. Martin, part of the Pirates’ return for Gerrit Cole, is projected to begin this season in Triple-A Indianapolis. The 23-year-old center fielder hit .325/.392/.522 for Double-A Altoona last year, but struggled after a promotion to Triple-A, batting just .211 with a .589 OPS in 59 games.

Hello again, Cutch

Appropriately enough, Andrew McCutchen made his first start in a Phillies uniform on Saturday against the Pirates. McCutchen faced the Pirates for the first time last season, when he was with the Giants, and said it no longer feels weird to face his former team -- even if it seems a little odd to see him in Philadelphia’s red, white and blue.

“He looks good in red. There’s not a big league uniform he’s not going to look good in,” Hurdle said. “He’s one of our favorites. He did everything that our organization could ask a man to do. We’ll all be pulling for him in Philadelphia when we’re not playing him.”

McCutchen, who still lives in Pittsburgh in the offseason, said he didn’t realize he’d be playing the Pirates until talking about it on Friday with his wife, Maria. He still keeps an eye on the Pirates from afar, following their official Twitter account and coverage of the club.

“They have a different philosophy. It’s making things work without spending a lot of money to get big-name guys,” McCutchen said. “That’s the way it’s always been. They did well for themselves last year. They had an over-.500 season. That was good. It shows you don’t always need the payroll to win. That’s always been their philosophy.”

Gaffney retires

The Pirates announced on Saturday that Minor League outfielder Tyler Gaffney has retired. Gaffney made his professional debut in 2012, when Pittsburgh drafted him in the 24th round. But Gaffney returned to Stanford University to continue his football career and wound up winning two Super Bowl rings as a reserve for the New England Patriots.

Gaffney, 27, returned to the Pirates system last season and hit .244/.353/.388 with six homers for Class A Advanced Bradenton and Double-A Altoona.

Up next

Right-hander Nick Kingham, competing with Brault and Jordan Lyles for the final spot in the rotation, will start for the Pirates in their Grapefruit League home opener at 1:05 p.m. ET on Sunday at LECOM Park. The game will air on KDKA-FM in Pittsburgh and the Pirates Radio Network.

Left-hander Francisco Liriano and right-handers Dovydas Neverauskas, Nick Burdi, Alex McRae and Dario Agrazal are also scheduled to pitch against the Marlins, and Jung Ho Kang is expected to start at third base.