<div id="subtitle">Rays' Niemann, Pirates Karstens have strong starts in bids for spots in repesctive rotations</div><div><p>Jeff Niemann helped his case for a spot in the Tampa Bay rotation with five sharp innings, and the Rays beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-2 Wednesday night.</p><p>Niemann allowed a run on five hits and didn't walk a batter in front of a crowd of 6,771, the seventh sellout at the Rays' new spring training stadium.</p><p>He is competing with Jason Hammel for the final spot in the rotation with the runner-up headed to the bullpen as the long man.</p><p>Pittsburgh's Jeff Karstens is vying with Ross Ohlendorf and Virgil Vasquez for one of the last two spots in the Pirates' rotation. He allowed five hits, including a two-run homer to Adam kennedy, over five innings. Karstens walked two and struck out five.</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=45846277&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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