Your daily Pittsburgh Pirates Prospect Watch article for recaps of all of today’s games. Be sure to pick up your copy of the latest Prospect Guide in our store, available as an ebook or a limited edition paperback.
All four affiliates won again amid some outstanding pitching.
INDIANAPOLIS
(7:05pm)
Starting Pitcher: Steven Wright 5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K
Notable Performances:
Travis Swaggerty 0-4
Cole Tucker 2-3, 2B, BB
Nick Mears 1.1 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
Game Recap: Indianapolis (6-4) hung on for a 5-4 win over Toledo. The Indians scored four in the fifth to take a four-run lead, then got past some shaky relief work. Most of the big inning came on a three-run shot by Dustin Fowler. Steven Wright made the start and gave up a run over five innings. Joe Jacques gave up a pair of runs in the seventh, although shoddy defense caused part of the trouble. That made it 4-3, but a Fowler triple and Chris Sharpe double added an insurance run in the bottom of the inning. Nick Mears ran into trouble in the ninth; after one out, a hit batter and two singles made it 5-4. Tyler Bashlor came on and walked the first hitter he saw to load the bases, but he fanned the next two to record the save.
ALTOONA
(6:35pm)
Starting Pitcher: Osvaldo Bido 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K
Notable Performances:
Jonah Davis 2-5, 3B, HR (2)
Ji-Hwan Bae 1-5
Rodolfo Castro 1-4
Mason Martin 2-4
Canaan Smith-Njigba 0-4
Yerry De Los Santos 1.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
Game Recap: Altoona (7-3) beat winless Binghamton (I can’t decide whether to call them the Bumble Ponies or the Rumble Stonies), 6-5, in ten innings. The Curve jumped on top with four in the first. Jonah Davis started the game by going oppo. Mason Martin drove in one run with a single and two others scored on a ground out and a fly out. Osvaldo Bido did a 180 from his first start, giving up just two hits over five shutout innings. Brad Case had a rough time in relief, giving up four to tie the game while getting just one out. Cam Alldred followed with two and two-thirds scoreless innings.
Altoona’s offense pretty much took the rest of regulation off, but Josh Bissonette, who’s making the jump all the way from the Appalachian League, started the tenth with a double to drive in the free runner. The next three hitters struck out, popped up and struck out, but during all that a wild pitch and a passed ball brought Bissonette home. So Binghamton seems to be 0-10 on merit. Yerry De Los Santos was a bit shaky in the bottom of the inning, struggling to throw strikes. Fortunately, he got a 3-6-3 double play, started nicely by Mason Martin, and a strikeout to end it. Davis had a triple as well as the homer and Martin had two hits.
GREENSBORO
(6:30pm)
Starting Pitcher: 4 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 10 K
Notable Performances:
Nick Gonzales 0-5
Matt Gorski 3-5, 2B, HR (3)
Lolo Sanchez 0-1, 3 BB
Jack Herman 0-5
Omar Cruz 4 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 10 K
Game Recap: Greensboro (6-5) beat Rome, 6-5, in ten innings. The game became unexpectedly dramatic when Bear Bellomy gave up a grand slam in the ninth to blow a 5-1 lead. Omar Cruz recovered in spectacular fashion from a rough first start, throwing four no-hit innings and fanning ten. Rome didn’t get a hit until Alex Manasa gave up a solo home run with one out in the sixth. Matt Gorski had a big day, going 3-for-5. He singled in a run in the first, doubled and scored in the fifth and hit a solo bomb in the sixth. Jared Triolo had two hits and two RBIs, and Grant Koch drove in a run. In the tenth, Bellomy stranded the free runner in the top of the inning. In the bottom half, with one out Rome issued an intentional walk to load the bases to Nick Gonzales, who was hitless on the day. He grounded to short, but beat the relay to first for a walkoff, RBI force play. Jack Herman had a rough day, striking out four times.
Liover Peguero is now on the seven-day injured list.
BRADENTON
(6:30pm)
Starting Pitcher: Jose Maldonado 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K
Notable Performances:
Sammy Siani 0-4
Alexander Mojica 0-4
Hudson Head 0-3, BB
Maikol Escotto 1-3, BB
Jase Bowen 1-4, SB
Sergio Campana 1-4, SB
Brennan Malone 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K
Game Recap: Four Marauders (7-4) pitchers combined to no-hit Dunedin in a 2-0 win. The news wasn’t all good, as the starter, Jose Maldonado, left with an injury during the first at-bat of the bottom of the third. Before that, he fanned four in two innings. Cam Junker followed with three innings, fanning four more. Brennan Malone made his Pirates’ debut, pitching the seventh inning. His control was shaky, as he walked the second batter he faced and hit the next, but he got a double play to end the inning. Wandi Montout finished the last three innings. He created some drama with two outs in the ninth, as he walked the next two hitters and fell behind, 3-1. He rallied for a strikeout, though, his third.
The offense was quiet, picking up just five singles. The game’s only runs came in the fourth. With two out, Maikol Escotto and Jase Bowen both singled to put runners at the corners. Bowen stole second and Sergio Campana singled to drive in both.
