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.
INDIANAPOLIS
(8:05pm)
Starting Pitcher: Max Kranick 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 9 K
Notable Performances:
Jared Oliva 0-4, BB
Cole Tucker 3-5, 2 HR (2)
Chris Sharpe 2-5, 2B
Will Craig 3-5
Game Recap: Max Kranick had an impressive start as Indianapolis (17-17) beat Nashville, 8-1. Kranick went five innings, giving up just one hit and fanning nine. Cole Tucker had his biggest day at the plate since . . . who knows. Tucker hit a pair of home runs, his first two of the year, and went 3-for-5 with three RBIs. The Indians also got three hits from Will Craig and two, including a double, from Chris Sharpe, who’d been mired in a 2-for-24 drought. Troy Stokes, Jr., and Hunter Owen each had a two-run single. Kyle Keller allowed the only run in two innings of work. Shea Spitzbarth and Jandel Gustave each threw a scoreless inning, although Spitzbarth had to leave the bases loaded. Jared Oliva made his season debut, going 0-for-4 with a walk.
ALTOONA
(4:00pm)
Starting Pitcher: Trey McGough 5 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, and Osvaldo Bido 5 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K
Notable Performances:
Oneil Cruz 4-6, HR (8)
Canaan Smith-Njigba 1-5, BB, SB
Mason Martin 2-3
Brendt Citta 2-6, 2B
Cal Mitchell 1-5, 2B, BB
Rodolfo Castro 0-6
Cristofer Melendez 1 IP, 1 K
Game Recap: Altoona (21-13) split a doubleheader with Akron. The Curve dropped the first game, 4-3. Trey McGough had one rough inning, giving up three runs in the second on back-to-back doubles. A solo home run made it 4-0 in the third. Altoona came back, getting two in the bottom of the second on a ground out and a Jonah Davis single. They made it 4-3 in the fifth when Cal Mitchell doubled and scored on a single by Arden Pabst. They missed a chance to tie the game in the sixth, though, when Mason Martin, who had hits in his other two at-bats, struck out with runners at the corners and one out. John O’Reilly threw two scoreless innings in relief of McGough.
The Curve took the second game, 3-2. Osvaldo Bido got off to a rough start, allowing two runs in the first. He followed that, though, with four scoreless innings. Altoona tied it with singles runs in the first and second. Oneil Cruz led off with a double and scored on a single by Canaan Smith-Njigba. Pabst had an RBI single in the second. The game stayed tied until the fifth, when Cruz hit his eighth home run of the year somewhere up into the roller coaster. Cruz was 3-for-3 in the second game, all against a lefty, and is batting 400/442/750 in June. Cam Alldred and Cristofer Melendez finished up with a scoreless inning each. Melendez picked up his second AA save and has three hitless outings since joining the Curve. According to the Curve’s twitter feed, he hit triple digits with the game’s final pitch.
GREENSBORO
(7:00)
Starting Pitcher: J.C. Flowers 4 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K
Notable Performances:
Matt Fraizer 3-5, 2B, BB
Liover Peguero 0-5, BB
Aaron Shackelford 0-6
Lolo Sanchez 2-4, 2B, BB, SB
Matt Gorski 1-4, HR, (5), BB
Game Recap: Greensboro (19-16) got a two-run home run from Matt Gorski in the top of the tenth to beat Hickory, 7-5. J.C. Flowers started with three strong innings before weakening in the fourth. He gave up two runs on three of the four hits he allowed. Flowers left after that inning with the Grasshoppers up, 5-2. Greensboro got a run in the second on a double by Jared Triolo, then four more in the fourth on doubles by Lolo Sanchez, Grant Koch and Matt Fraizer, with a couple walks mixed in. Grant Ford replaced Flowers and quickly gave up the lead, as the college pitchers from the 2019 draft continue to struggle. Ford retired only two batters, allowing three runs and leaving the bases loaded. Will Kobos came on to strand the runners and ended up throwing two and a third hitless innings, fanning five. Oliver Garcia followed that with three hitless innings, also with five strikeouts. In the tenth, Gorski launched his fifth home run of the year to bring in the free runner. Garcia kept Hickory off the board in the bottom half. Fraizer went 3-for-5 with a walk. He began the season with a golden sombrero and now is batting .344. He’s fanned only four times in June and is 21-for-43 for the month. Sanchez and Fabricio Macias each had two hits.
BRADENTON
(6:05pm)
Starting Pitcher: Jared Jones 3 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K
Notable Performances:
Hudson Head 1-3, 2B, 2 BB
Endy Rodriguez 0-4, BB
Sammy Siani 1-3, HR (4), BB
Jase Bowen 1-3, HBP
Sergio Campana 1-3, 3B, BB
Alexander Mojica 2-4, 2B, 4 RBI
Jasiah Dixon 1-4
Nick Garcia 4 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K
Game Recap: Bradenton (23-12) beat Daytona, 8-5. Jared Jones made his second pro start and turned in two strong innings before seeming to tire in the third. He got hit around some for three runs that inning, and his velocity dropped from 97-98 early in the game to 93-95. The three-run inning put Daytona ahead, 3-1, after Bradenton scored on a Sergio Campana triple and a single by Alexander Mojica. The Marauders, though, scored five times in the bottom of the third to go ahead for good. It all started with two out and nobody on. Sammy Siani hit an opposite-field home run, his fourth homer of the year. Bradenton loaded the bases and Mojica cleared them with a double, then scored on a single by Jasiah Dixon. Nick Garcia got the win with four strong innings, giving up just one run, on a solo homer, and fanning six. Cam Junker threw two innings and gave up one run while striking out four, giving the Marauders 15 Ks on the night. Bradenton got a pair of insurance runs in the eighth on a two-run single by Jase Bowen.
