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.
Probably too soon to see any new guys yet, but we’ll see. The Indianapolis rotation is probably in a bit of chaos right now.
INDIANAPOLIS
(8:05pm)
Starting Pitcher: Steven Wright 0 IP, 3 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 0 K
Notable Performances:
Hoy Park 0-3, BB
Anthony Alford 0-4
Game Recap:
Steven Wright hadn’t been doing much to pitch his way back to the majors before tonight, but he had his worst showing yet. He faced five batters and they all reached base. Three scored while he was in and Joe Jacques let the other two score. Jacques gave up three more in the first and five in the second, putting Indianapolis (34-37) down, 13-0. The bullpen quieted things down, as Matt Eckelman threw three and a third scoreless innings, and Blake Weiman and Shea Spitzbarth one each. Catcher Taylor Davis gave up three in the eighth. The Indians managed only a solo home run by Hunter Owen in the eighth, his tenth longball of the year, so the final was 16-1, St. Paul. Despite the opposing starter, Chandler Shepherd, coming in with a 6.38 ERA, Indy managed only three hits total, the other two being a double by T.J. Rivera and a single by Bligh Madris. Hoy Park went 0-3 in his Pirate debut.
ALTOONA
(6:30pm)
Starting Pitcher: Trey McGough 6 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 4 K
Notable Performances:
Ji-Hwan Bae 1-4, 2B
Brendt Citta 1-4
Mason Martin 0-4
Cal Mitchell 2-3, HBP, SB
Jonah Davis 1-2, BB
Game Recap:
Altoona (39-31) can’t seem to get much of its lineup on the field at one time, but the Curve still beat hapless Harrisburg, 4-3. Canaan Smith-Njigba appears to be the latest casualty, although he’s not on the injured list so hopefully it’s minor. Altoona got three in the third on Josh Bissonette’s first pro home run to go ahead, 3-2. The Senators tied the game in the top of the fourth, but Jonah Davis drove in the game’s final run in the bottom half with a single (really). Trey McGough gave up three runs over six innings. Cam Alldred, Brad Case and Cristofer Melendez each threw a scoreless inning to hold the lead. Cal Mitchell had two hits.
GREENSBORO
(6:30pm)
Starting Pitcher: Grant Ford (5-1, 4.95, 43.2 IP, 53 K)
Notable Performances:
Matt Fraizer 1-4
Nick Gonzales 1-4
Jared Triolo 1-4, HR (9)
Blake Sabol 0-4
Liover Peguero 1-4
Aaron Shackelford 0-3, HBP
Lolo Sanchez 1-3, HR (11)
Game Recap:
Greensboro (45-28) mashed four home runs in an 8-0 blanking of Winston-Salem. Grant Ford and Colin Selby combined to strike out 13 without walking a batter. Ford gave up three singles and fanned nine in six innings. He has an ERA of 1.59 in his last four outings. Selby gave up just one hit. Jared Triolo led the offense with a grand slam, his ninth home run of the year. Despite posting just a .639 OPS in May, Triolo stands at 292/349/458 on the year, with 17 steals in 20 tries. Matt Gorski and Lolo Sanchez each hit home run #11. Grant Koch hit his seventh, six of which have come at home. Nobody had more than one hit.
BRADENTON
(6:05pm)
Starting Pitcher: Nick Garcia 2.1 IP, 6 H, 7 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 3 K
Notable Performances:
Maikol Escotto 2-5, HR (6)
Hudson Head 2-5, 2B
Dariel Lopez 3-4, BB
Endy Rodriguez 2-4, BB
Jack Herman 1-5, HR (3)
Alexander Mojica 2-4, BB
Eli Wilson 0-5
Game Recap:
Bradenton (43-29) lost to Dunedin, 11-6. Nick Garcia had been pitching well recently, but lasted until only one out in the third in this one. The start of the mess wasn’t his fault, as two errors within the first three batters of the game put a run on the board. After that, Garcia created his own problems, walking three and throwing two wild pitches over the rest of the first inning, although only one more run scored. He went on to give up three more in the second and two in the third. The Marauders eventually came back to within two in the bottom of the eighth, helped by two and two-thirds scoreless innings by Alex Roth. Ryan Troutman, though, gave up four in the top of the ninth. The Marauders had 15 hits, including Maikol Escotto’s sixth home run of the year and third in his last five games. Jack Herman also homered, his third at this level, in the ninth. Before that, though, he went 0-4 with three strikeouts and seven runners stranded. Dariel Lopez had three hits and two RBIs. Escotto, Hudson Head, Endy Rodriguez, Alexander Mojica and Ernny Ordonez each had two.
FCL PIRATES BLACK
Starting Pitcher: Po-Yu Chen 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K
Notable Performances:
Juan Jerez 2-3, 2B, 3B, 2 BB
Christopher Cruz 0.2 IP, 1 H, 3 ER, 4 BB, 0 K
Christian Charle 1.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K
Game Recap:
The Black team lost, 9-4, to an Orioles Orange team that came into the game with a record of 1-18. The Pirates used eight pitchers, starting with Po-Yu Chen, who continued to dominate with two scoreless innings and four strikeouts. Christopher Cruz had a rough time, getting only two outs, walking four and giving up three runs. Christian Charle got the last out of Cruz’ inning and threw one more, fanning four. The offense also struggled, getting only three hits to go with nine walks. Juan Jerez had two of the hits, a double and a triple, and drove in two runs. Jerez, one of the very few Pirate hitters doing anything at all in the FCL, is now batting 300/440/517. Jhan Polanco had the other hit and drove in the other run.
FCL PIRATES GOLD
Starting Pitcher: Andy Maldonado 3.1 IP, 3 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K
Notable Performances:
Jasiah Dixon 1-5
Tsung-Che Cheng 2-3, 2B, HBP
Sergio Campana 2-4, 3B
Rodolfo Nolasco 1-3, HR (2), BB
Eliazer Montero 2-3, 2B, HR (1), BB, SB
Listher Sosa 2.2 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 3 K
Game Recap:
The Gold team (13-5) got some longballs to beat the Rays, 12-5. Claudio Finol, an experienced player who’s a ringer at this level, hit his first of the year to tie the game in the second. Rodolfo Nolasco hit a three-run shot, his second homer of the year, in the fourth to break the tie. Eliazer Montero led off the fifth with his first pro homer as the Pirates went on to score four in the inning, including an RBI triple by Sergio Campana off . . . wait for it . . . Stetson Allie. The Bucs finished with four more in the seventh. Andy Maldonado had a solid start, giving up one earned run in three and a third innings, although he walked three. Listher Sosa gave up three runs in two and two-thirds, but got the win. Tsung-Che Cheng reached base three times and scored three times. Campana, Montero and Finol each had two hits.
DSL PIRATES BLACK
Starting Pitcher: Yoldin De La Paz 4 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K
Notable Performances:
Shalin Polanco 1-3
Jesus Castillo 0-3
Enmanuel Terrero 1-3, 2B
Ewry Espinal 0-2, BB
Game Recap:
The Black Team (5-7) got blanked by the Rangers1, 2-0. The Pirates had only four hits. Ruben Vizcaya had two of them. Enmanuel Terrero had a double and Shalin Polanco had just his second hit of the season. Yoldin De La Paz had a nice start, allowing just two hits and walking nobody over four innings. He was charged with the two runs, one unearned. Eliecer Romero and Jonathan Salazar combined for three scoreless innings.
DSL PIRATES GOLD
Starting Pitcher: Luigi Hernandez 3 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
Notable Performances:
Jeral Toledo 2-3, BB
Miguel Sosa 2-3, 2B, BB
Eudys Carrasco 2-3, HBP
Luis Faringthon 2 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 4 K
Game Recap:
The Gold team (4-8) beat the Yankees2, 10-7. The Pirates had nine hits, eight of them singles, and seven walks. Eudys Carrasco and 17-year-old catcher Miguel Sosa did much of the damage. Sosa had a single, a double and a walk, and scored three times. Carrasco had two singles and a hit batsman, and scored and drove in two runs. Jeral Toledo had two hits and a walk, and Wesley Zapata walked three times. The pitching was pretty shaky. Starter Luigi Hernandez gave up three runs over three innings. Luis Faringthon fanned four in two innings, but allowed four runs. Keneth Quintanilla finished with two scoreless innings.
