While a slew of Red Sox players and top prospects were home in Fort Myers battling a stomach bug, a healthy contingent traveled to Bradenton and spent Tuesday afternoon beating up on the Pittsburgh Pirates 12-4.

It was familiar territory for starter Quinn Priester, whom the Red Sox acquired from the Pirates at last summer’s trade deadline. The righty pitched 2 ⅔ innings and held his former franchise to one earned run on four hits, one walk, and struck out four. (Trade counterpart Nick Yorke didn’t play in the contest.)

The Pirates were aggressive early against their former first-round pick, with Ji Hwan Bae hitting a leadoff single on Priester’s first pitch of the contest and Bryan Reynolds’ grounding into a double play on his second.

The Red Sox want Priester to finish off more batters with two strikes in the count. He was unable to do that with Andrew McCutchen in the bottom of the first, but after ‘Cutch’ singled on the 10th pitch, Priester got Nick Gonzalez to swing at a two-strike slider for an inning-ending strikeout.

Priester was able to escape damage until Bae’s one-out solo homer in the third. When he issued a full-count two-out walk to McCutchen – also with two strikes – manager Alex Cora made a pitching change. Priester exited after 46 pitches, 30 for strikes, with seven swings-and-misses and his fastball topping out at 97 mph. In seven two-strike situations, he triumphed four times.

With Kutter Crawford unlikely to be ready for the start of the season due to a nagging knee ailment and Brayan Bello slightly behind the rest of the rotation, Priester is a top candidate for a spot on the Opening Day roster.

“I want that job, no doubt,” he told reporters, including Boston Globe’s Alex Speier.

Grant Gambrell, Justin Slaten, Luis Guerrero, Christopher Troye, Michael Fulmer, and Jacob Webb pitched the rest of the way. Slaten’s meticulous performance was over in the blink of an eye; he needed just six pitches (five strikes) to get the Pirates 1-2-3 in the bottom of the fourth.

The Pirates scored a pair of runs off Guerrero in the fifth and one off Fulmer (a solo homer) in the seventh, but didn’t manage as much as a hit or walk against any of the other Sox arms. Guerrero threw the three hardest pitches of the contest, topping out at 98.3 mph, but was also charged with a pair of pitch-timer violations.

The Red Sox only out-hit the Pirates 10-8, but their patience at the plate was rewarded; the first seven of their eight walks came around to score. Boston’s two most clutch hits in the contest were two-out blasts from non-roster invitees: leadoff man Abraham Toro’s bases-clearing triple in the top of the second, and Nate Eaton’s grand slam in the fifth. It was the club’s first slam since last March, as the Red Sox were one of two teams without one during the ‘24 regular season. Fellow non-roster guy Trayce Thompson also contributed a two-run homer, which blasted out of LECOM Park at an estimated 107.7 mph, too far for Statcast to even track.

Nick Sogard and Vaughn Grissom continue to put together strong spring training campaigns. Starting at shortstop, Sogard drove in Boston’s first run of the contest with a single, and finished the day 2-for-2 with a walk, RBI, and two runs scored. Grissom collected a hit, walk, and scored on Thompson’s homer. They also defended well in tandem, turning a double play with the bases loaded.

Kristian Campbell only has one hit in 15 at-bats so far this spring, but he’s beginning to get more comfortable at the plate. Starting in left-field and batting seventh, the versatile top prospect drew a pair of walks, both on a full count, and scored twice.

With Triston Casas a late scratch due to the stomach bug, Masataka Yoshida was the only starter from last year’s everyday lineup. He went 0-for-3 with a strikeout.

Thus, the Red Sox improve to 5-4 in Grapefruit League games. They’re back in action at home on Wednesday, hosting the Tampa Bay Rays at 1:05 p.m. Probable pitchers are starter Garrett Crochet  and relievers Aroldis Chapman, Brennan Bernardino, Liam Hendriks, Greg Weissert, Justin Wilson, and Wyatt Mills.