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: Luis Oviedo 1.2 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO
Notable Performances:
Dee Strange-Gordon 1-for-5, HR, 2 RBI
Fabricio Macias 3-for-4, 2B, RBI
Game Recap: Indianapolis pitchers had a rough game on Friday night, with all four of them allowing at least one run in the 9-4 loss. Luis Oviedo made his second rehab start and he’s probably going to end up staying the full 30 days at this point after allowing four runs over 1.2 innings. The Pirates likely intended for him to stay the full 30 days allowed for rehab (or close to it) regardless of results to let him get some innings in, especially with his next start taking place during the All-Star break. Matt Eckelman gave up one run in 1.1 innings. Shelby Miller allowed a run on three hits in two innings. Cody Ponce gave up three runs over three innings.
Dee Strange-Gordon went 0-for-4 in his debut with Indianapolis yesterday, then followed it up with a 1-for-5 night tonight, though that one was a two-run homer. Fabricio Macias had a big game, going 3-for-4 with two singles, two runs scored, a double and an RBI. He is 5-for-12 in four games since joining Indianapolis from Greensboro. Hunter Owen had two hits. Chris Sharpe is now batting .182 this year, though he hit his 17th double.
ALTOONA
Starting Pitcher: Trey McGough 5 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO
Notable Performances:
Canaan Smith-Njigba 2-for-3, HR, 3 RBI, BB
Mason Martin 1-for-2, BB
Cal Mitchell 0-for-2, BB
Game Recap: Altoona won game one 6-2 over Akron in seven innings. Trey McGough got the start and he allowed two runs (one earned) on six hits and two walks, striking out two batters. That lowered his ERA to 3.86 since being promoted from Greensboro. Shea Murray followed with a scoreless inning, which earned him a win. Hunter Stratton allowed three hits, but kept Akron off the board in the seventh. The Curve scored a run in the first on an infielder single by Daniel Amaral. They tied the score 2-2 in the second on Arden Pabst’s third home run. A single by Jonah Davis in the sixth made it 3-2, then Canaan Smith-Njigba hit a three-run homer to cap the scoring. Connor Kaiser had a double, walk and two runs scored.
GAME TWO
Starting Pitcher: Osvaldo Bido 4.2 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 8 SO
Notable Performances:
Mason Martin 2-for-3, HR, RBI
Cal Mitchell 0-for-3
Canaan Smith-Njigba 0-for-3
Game Recap: Altoona lost 4-1 in the second game. They had just two hits, both by Mason Martin, who hit his 16th home run of the season. He has now driven in 46 runs. The only other runner for the Curve was Daniel Amaral, who was hit by a pitch. Osvaldo Bido had a nice start in the loss, giving up two runs over 4.2 innings while racking up eight strikeouts. John O’Reilly allowed two runs over the final 2.1 innings.
GREENSBORO
Starting Pitcher: Grant Ford 3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 6 SO
Notable Performances:
Matt Fraizer 1-for-3, BB, SB
Nick Gonzales 0-for-4
Liover Peguero 1-for-3, BB
Jared Triolo 2-for-3, HR, RBI, BB
Matt Gorski 2-for-4, HR, 2 RBI
Lolo Sanchez, 1-for-4, HR, RBI
Game Recap: Greensboro won 4-2 behind three homers. Grant Ford started and tossed three shutout innings, but he needed 79 pitches to get through his shortened night thanks to three hits, four walks and six strikeouts. Bear Bellomy was out next and he had five strikeouts over two shutout innings. Cameron Junker allowed two runs over two innings. Oliver Garcia threw two shutout frames for his sixth save. The four Greensboro pitchers combined for 18 strikeouts.
The Grasshoppers had three solo homers in the game. Lolo Sanchez hit his eighth homer in the third inning. In the fifth inning, Jared Triolo and Matt Gorski went back-to-back. It was the sixth of the year for Triolo and ninth for Gorski. In the sixth inning, Gorski singled home Triolo with the fourth run. Matt Fraizer had a single, walk and his eighth stolen base. Nick Gonzales is 5-for-36 in his last nine games.
BRADENTON
Starting Pitcher: Logan Hofmann 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 SO
Notable Performances:
Hudson Head 1-for-3, HR, 2 RBI, BB
Eli Wilson 0-for-3, BB
Maikol Escotto 0-for-3, BB, 2 SB
Endy Rodriguez 1-for-3, RBI, BB
Dariel Lopez 0-for-4
Sammy Siani 1-for-3, BB, SB
Alexander Mojica 0-for-3
Jase Bowen 0-for-2, BB
Eddy Yean 2.1 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO
Game Recap: Bradenton won 4-3 on Friday night behind the pitching of Logan Hofmann, who tossed six shutout innings on four hits, with no walks and five strikeouts. He now has a 2.13 ERA in 38 innings this season. Hofmann was actually getting out-pitched by Clearwater starter Mick Abel, who threw five no-hit innings with eight strikeouts. Both clubs were able to break through off the first reliever. For Bradenton, that was Eddy Yean, who allowed three runs in 2.1 innings on four hits and two walks. Enmanuel Mejia came out for the last two outs. He struck out two batters, but not before he allowed an inherited run to score.
Hudson Head provided the big hit on offense. He hit his eighth homer of the season in the seventh, a two-run shot. That was after a wild pitch allowed the first run to score. A single by Endy Rodriguez scored Maikol Escotto in the eighth inning, giving the Marauders all of the runs they would need. Sammy Siani had a single, walk and his eighth stolen base. Escotto stole two bases, giving him eight steals on the season.
FCL PIRATES BLACK
Boxscore (game one)
Starting Pitcher: Valentin Linarez 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO
Luis Peralta 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 SO
Notable Performances:
Jasiah Dixon 1-for-2, RBI, BB
Jack Herman 0-for-2, BB
Rodolfo Nolasco 1-for-2, BB
Daniel Rivero 1-for-3
Deivis Nadal 0-for-2, BB
Juan Jerez 1-for-3, HR, RBI
Angel Basabe 0-for-3
Luis Tejeda 0-for-2
Game Recap: The Pirates played the Pirates in the completion of a suspended game from last week, before playing their regularly scheduled game. I just split up the doubleheader here and put everyone from game one in this section and game two below because they are all Pirates, so no need to break them up.
The final score in game one was 2-1 (Black won) in seven innings. Before the game was suspended, all seven outs in the game were strikeouts. More than half of the outs ended up being strikeouts. Drake Fellows made his second appearance and threw three no-hit innings, giving up two walks, with three strikeouts. Lister Sosa took the loss, allowing two runs in his 2.2 innings. Jake Sweeney pitched 3.2 innings and struck out six batters. He had eight strikeouts over three innings in his debut. Yoelvis Reyes tossed two scoreless frames to pick up the win.
Pirates Gold scored their only run in the fifth inning on a Jasiah Dixon single that brought in Geovanny Planchart. Pirates Black came back with a run in the sixth on a solo homer by Juan Jerez, his second of the season. With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Francisco Quintero walked it off with a single that scored Luis Hernandez. Planchart and Quintero each had multi-hit games.
FCL PIRATES GOLD
Boxscore (game two)
Starting Pitcher: Bladimir Dotel 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 SO
Cristopher Cruz 5 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 SO
Notable Performances:
Jasiah Dixon 0-for-2, BB
Tsung-Che Cheng 2-for-3, RBI, BB, SB
Rodolfo Nolasco 0-for-3
Daniel Rivero 1-for-3, RBI
Deivis Nadal 2-for-3, RBI, BB, SB
Angel Basabe 0-for-3
Juan Jerez 0-for-3
Luis Tejeda 0-for-2
Game Recap: Cristopher Cruz, who was the top international signing of the Pirates in July of 2019, made his second pro start. He allowed one run in three innings in his debut. Today he went five innings, allowing one run on two hits and three walks, with two strikeouts. Bladimir Dotel, who was the final signing of the 2019-20 signing period, tossed three scoreless innings in his second game, allowing one, no walks and he struck out six batters. Darvin Garcia followed Dotel with four scoreless innings, allowing two hits, with no walks and four strikeouts. In his first two outings this year, he allowed three runs in 2.1 innings. Wilkin Ramos took over for Cruz and allowed two runs on five hits in two innings. He had no walks or strikeouts.
Gold won this game 3-0 and Black was never really threatening, with three hits and no walks. The only extra-base hit of the game was a double by Luis Hernandez. Tsung-Che Cheng played his second pro game after homering in his opener. He had two singles, an RBI, a walk, scored a run and stole a base. Deivis Nadal had two hits, an RBI and his second steal. Daniel Rivero scored a run and drove in one as well. Gustavo Polanco had a single and a walk.
