Pirates-Reds Notes

By JOHN LEMBO
jlembo@bradenton.com

BRADENTON - Eric Hinske hopes to get back into a ballgame soon.
"I'm bored," said Pittsburgh's newly-acquired outfielder.
That said, Hinske, who didn't make the trip to Sarasota on Thursday when the Pirates played the Reds, understands. The Pirates want to make sure his left hip contusion is completely healed, and don't see a need to rush him, given that it's only March.
"I still feet it when I cough a little bit," he said Tuesday morning at Pirate City. "It's getting better, but they don't want me to feel it at all before I start baseball activity again. Everything I do is right there, you know?"
That means Hinske won't play when the Pirates host his former team, the Tampa Bay Rays, 1:05 p.m. Friday at McKechnie Field.

PEARCE OUT: Steven Pearce is nursing a sore right calf, and manager John Russell doesn't know when he'll get back into a game.
"We'll just have to wait and see," he said. "He's still on hold until we get a little bit of the soreness out."
Pearce has been able to take batting practice, but that's been it.
"No game activity," Russell said.

SMOOTH RUNNING FORD: Second baseman Shelby Ford continues to impress. Ranked as one of the top 10 Pirate prospects by Baseball America, Ford went 2-for-4 with a triple and a run scored, and played all 10 innings Thursday. He is batting .385 on the spring.