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
(7:05pm)
Starting Pitcher: Beau Sulser 7 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K
Notable Performances:
Fabricio Macias 3-5, HR (1)
Game Recap:
Indianapolis (29-29) obliterated Columbus, 11-1. Beau Sulser threw seven scoreless innings, walking nobody. Joe Jacques threw a scoreless eighth and Shea Spitzbarth gave up a solo home run in the ninth. The Indians put the game away early with three runs in the second and four in the third. Fabricio Macias had a big day, going 3-for-5 with three RBIs and his first AAA home run. Taylor Davis reached base five times, going 2-for-2 with three walks. Chris Sharpe and T.J. Rivera each reached four times, each with a double and two walks. Dee Strange-Gordon hit his second home run in two days with the Pirates. Will Craig left for a pinch hitter in the top of the first, although it’s unclear whether this might actually have been a scratch.
ALTOONA
(6:00pm)
Starting Pitcher: Omar Cruz 4.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 4 K
Notable Performances:
Ji-Hwan Bae 2-4, BB, SB
Canaan Smith-Njigba 2-4, BB
Mason Martin 2-4, 2B, BB
Chase Murray 3-3, 2B, BB
Game Recap:
Altoona (31-26) did itself in with ten walks, losing to Akron, 3-2. Omar Cruz went four and two-thirds scoreless innings, but threw only 46 of 86 pitches for strikes and walked four. New Pirate Nathan Kirby stranded two of Cruz’ runners to end the fifth. In the sixth, though, he walked two and left for Brad Case with one out. Case walked another to load the bases, and a force out and an error let Kirby’s runners score. Case walked two more later and allowed another unearned run in the eighth that turned out to be the winning run. Cristofer Melendez finished with two scoreless innings, but he let Case’s run score. The Curve outhit Akron, 10-4, and drew eight walks themselves, but stranded 13 runners. Ji-Hwan Bae reached base three times, stole a base and scored both of Altoona’s runs. Chase Murray reached base four times, but didn’t score a run.
GREENSBORO
(6:30pm)
Starting Pitcher: Carmen Mlodzinski 3.2 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 3 K
Notable Performances:
Matt Fraizer 1-2, 2 BB, HBP
Nick Gonzales 1-4, BB
Liover Peguero 0-3, BB, SF
Aaron Shackelford 0-4, SF
Jared Triolo 2-4, 2 2B, BB
Game Recap:
Greensboro (35-24) beat Asheville, 4-3, in ten innings, but the biggest news from the game wasn’t good. Carmen Mlodzinski left with two outs in the fourth, showing signs of shoulder soreness. Mlodzinski up to that point had been having uncharacteristic control problems, walking four, hitting one and throwing only 33 of 69 pitches for strikes. He wasn’t charged with any runs until Alex Manasa came on and gave up an RBI single. Manasa later allowed a run of his own. Colin Selby followed with two hitless innings, but walked four and gave up a run in the seventh. That put Asheville up, 3-2, as Greensboro had scored earlier on a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly. The Grasshoppers tied the game in the bottom of the seventh on a sacrifice fly by Liover Peguero. Austin Roberts threw a scoreless ninth and stranded the free runner, along with two others, in the tenth. Jared Triolo ended things quickly in the bottom of the tenth, leading off the inning with his second double of the game, plating the free runner.
BRADENTON
(6:05pm)
Starting Pitcher: Adrian Florencio 5 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 5 K
Notable Performances:
Maikol Escotto 0-3
Hudson Head 0-3
Dariel Lopez 1-3, HR (4)
Sammy Siani 0-3 (4-for-30, all singles, in July)
Jase Bowen 0-3 (3-for-26 in July)
Alexander Mojica 1-3, HR (6)
Sergio Campana 0-3 (12-for-95, 1 XBH, 42 K since May)
Game Recap:
Adrian Florencio had his worst game of the season, all of it in the first inning, as Bradenton (38-21) lost to Clearwater, 7-3, in a game shortened to eight and two-thirds innings. Florencio gave up four runs and five hits, including a three-run home run, in the first inning. He recovered, though, to get through five while allowing no more runs and just one more hit. Parker Brahms gave up two unearned runs and Domingo Gonzalez gave up one run over three innings. The Marauders had just two hits in the game and, very uncharacteristically, drew no walks. Both hits were home runs. Dariel Lopez hit his fourth of the year following an error. Alexander Mojica hit his sixth.
FCL PIRATES BLACK
(10:00am)
Boxscore
Starting Pitcher: Luis Peralta (0-0, 0.00, 1.1 IP, 4 K)
Notable Performances:
Game Recap:
The Black and Gold teams played each other at 10:00am, but so far there’s no box score at MiLB.com.
FCL PIRATES GOLD
(10:00am)
Boxscore
Starting Pitcher: Valentin Linarez (0-0, 0.00, 1.0 IP, 3 K)
Notable Performances:
Game Recap:
See above.
