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
Starting Pitcher: Beau Sulser 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 SO
Notable Performances:
Anthony Alford 1-for-3, HR, RBI, BB
Kevin Kramer 0-for-4
Will Craig 2-for-4, 2B
Game Recap: Beau Sulser started for Indianapolis on Wednesday night and had his best outing of the season, throwing six shutout innings on four hits, two walks and five strikeouts. He has a 3.82 ERA in 35.1 innings, with 39 strikeouts. Mitch Keller was out next in his first appearance since being sent to Indianapolis last week. He threw one scoreless inning, needing just eight pitches to retire the side in order. All eight pitches went for strikes and he struck out two batters. Blake Weiman allowed a run in the eighth and Shea Spitzbarth tossed a scoreless ninth.
Indianapolis won 6-1 behind three home runs. Anthony Alford led off the bottom of the first with a homer, his sixth of the season. Chris Sharpe followed with his third homer, a three-run shot in the fifth inning. Jason Delay hit his first homer in the seventh inning. TJ Rivera added an insurance run in the eighth inning on a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded. Will Craig had two hits, including his fifth double of the season.
ALTOONA
Starting Pitcher: Travis MacGregor 5.1 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO
Notable Performances:
Oneil Cruz 1-for-5
Canaan Smith-Njigba 2-for-4, 2B, BB
Rodolfo Castro 2-for-4
Mason Martin 1-for-5, 2 RBI
Cal Mitchell 1-for-4
Game Recap: Travis MacGregor got the start on Wednesday against Erie, going 5.1 innings, with one earned run on five hits and one walk, striking out three batters. He left with a runner on base and reliever Brad Case got out of the inning with no further damage. MacGregor went longer that five innings for the first time all season. He now has a 4.21 ERA in 25.2 innings, with 32 strikeouts. Case picked up the win with a scoreless seventh inning, before giving way to Will Gardner who threw one shutout inning. Hunter Stratton picked up his fourth save with a scoreless ninth that included three strikeouts. He now has a 1.13 ERA and 30 strikeouts in 16 innings this season.
The Curve had all cylinders going on offense, although they were limited to just four runs. Everyone in the lineup had at least one hit. Canaan Smith-Njigba, Rodolfo Castro, Brendt Citta and Arden Pabst each had two hits. They were limited to four runs because they went 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Mason Martin broke the 2-2 tie in the top of the seventh with a two-run single. Citta has a .342 average and a .921 OPS, both tops on the team.
GREENSBORO
Starting Pitcher: Michael Burrows 4 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 SO
Notable Performances:
Matt Fraizer 1-for-4
Liover Peguero 0-for-3, RBI, BB
Lolo Sanchez 1-for-4
Jared Triolo 1-for-4
Matt Gorski 0-for-3
Game Recap: Michael Burrows made his seventh start of the season on Wednesday night. He gave up two runs on four hits and two walks, while striking out five batters. He ran his pitch count up to 82 pitches on the night, throwing 55 for strikes. Burrows now has a 2.12 ERA in 29.2 innings, with 43 strikeouts. Grant Ford followed with one run over four innings on one hit, one walk and five strikeouts. He needed 51 pitches to get through his four frames.
Greensboro scored their first run in the sixth inning on an RBI single by Aaron Shackelford, which scored Francisco Acuna. In the eighth, a ground out by Liover Peguero scored Acuna with the second run. Greensboro had five singles in the game from five different players, and Peguero drew their only walk. The loss drops them to 21-17 on the season.
BRADENTON
Starting Pitcher: Santiago Florez 5 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 SO
Notable Performances:
Hudson Head 0-for-2, BB
Endy Rodriguez 0-for-2
Sammy Siani 0-for-1, BB, SB
Sergio Campana 0-for-2
Alexander Mojica 0-for-2
Eli Wilson 1-for-2, 2B
Game Recap: Bradenton won a rain-shortened game 3-2 over Tampa in five innings. Santiago Florez had three straight scoreless outings coming into this game. He wasn’t able to continue that streak, but he still had a strong outing. He allowed one earned run on five hits and no walks in five innings, with six strikeouts. He got credit for a complete game, the third of his career and the second one this year. He now has a 1.26 ERA in 35.2 innings, with 51 strikeouts and an 0.81 WHIP.
The Marauders had just two hits in the game. One was the fourth double of the year from Eli Wilson. The other was a three-run homer from Ernny Ordonez, who brought in all of their runs. Sammy Siani and Hudson Head each drew walks and scored on the homer. Siani stole his fifth base of the season.
