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.
The Pirates have assigned their newest catcher, Abrahan Gutierrez, to Bradenton. Eli Wilson is moving up to Greensboro. It’s not clear exactly when these moves will be effective.
INDIANAPOLIS
(8:05pm)
Starting Pitcher: James Marvel 4.1 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 5 BB, 4 K
Notable Performances:
Cole Tucker 1-3, HR (3), 2 BB
Erik Gonzalez 0-1, HBP
Fabricio Macias 1-2
Colin Moran 0-3, SF
Game Recap:
Indianapolis (36-39) got a two-run, seventh-inning home run from Cole Tucker to erase a 5-4 deficit and went on to beat St. Paul, 6-5. Tucker’s home run was his third with Indy. Christian Bethancourt and Chris Sharpe also went deep, Bethancourt’s seventh and Sharpe’s fifth. Taylor Davis reached base and scored three times. Erik Gonzalez started his rehab and Colin Moran continued his. Gonzalez played third, and grounded out and got hit by a pitch before coming out. Moran was 0-for-3 with a sacrifice fly. James Marvel continued to struggle, giving up five runs, three earned, over four and a third innings. Tanner Anderson threw a scoreless inning and two-thirds. Steven Wright, apparently out of the rotation, finished with three scoreless innings, fanning eight, to get a save.
ALTOONA
(6:00pm)
Starting Pitcher: Jeffrey Passantino 4.2 IP, 9 H, 6 ER, 0 BB, 4 K
Notable Performances:
Ji-Hwan Bae 2-4, 3B, HR (4)
Diego Castillo 1-4
Mason Martin 1-4, 2B
Carter Bins 1-4
Cal Mitchell 0-3, BB
Game Recap:
Altoona (41-33) lost to Harrisburg, 9-3. Jeffrey Passantino had a rough start against the weak-hitting Senators, giving up six runs and nine hits over four and two-thirds innings. Oddy Nunez continued his year-long struggles, giving up three runs. Cam Alldred threw two scoreless innings to lower his ERA to 1.91. The Curve had nine hits, including Carter Bins’ first with his new organization. Ji-Hwan Bae accounted for two of the runs. He led off the sixth with a triple and scored on a single by Diego Castillo. In the eighth, he belted his fourth Altoona home run, all in his last 11 games, three of them in his last four. In between, Daniel Amaral hit his sixth home run in the seventh inning.
GREENSBORO
(6:30pm)
Starting Pitcher: J.C. Flowers 3.2 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 6 K
Notable Performances:
Matt Fraizer 3-4, HR (20), BB, SB (14)
Liover Peguero 3-4, 2B, HR (9), BB, SB (17)
Jared Triolo 1-4, SF, SB (20)
Lolo Sanchez 1-4, 2B, BB, SB (22)
Matt Gorski 2-4, HR (13), BB
Aaron Shackelford 2-5, HR (16)
Game Recap:
Greensboro (48-29) got big games from Matt Fraizer and Liover Peguero to beat Winston-Salem, 11-7. J.C. Flowers didn’t have his best start. After the Grasshoppers scored two in the bottom of the first, he gave up four in the second. The Hoppers took the lead back with four in the third, but Flowers left after allowing another run in the fourth. He fanned six in three and two-thirds innings, but allowed five runs on seven hits and two walks. Oliver Garcia allowed another two runs, but Colin Selby and Austin Roberts combined for three scoreless innings from the seventh through the ninth. The Hoppers by then had a lot of runs. Fraizer hit his 20th home run and reached base four times overall, with three runs and two RBIs. Peguero also reached base four times, including his ninth home run. He scored four runs and drove in two. Matt Gorski and Aaron Shackelford also went deep, Gorski’s 13th and Shackelford’s 16th. They each had two hits. Fraizer, Peguero, Jared Triolo and Lolo Sanchez each had a steal. The four have combined for 73 on the year.
BRADENTON
(6:05pm)
Starting Pitcher: Adrian Florencio 4 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 4 BB, 6 K
Notable Performances:
Maikol Escotto 1-4, HR (7), BB
Hudson Head 1-4, BB
Jack Herman 2-4, 2 HR (5), BB
Endy Rodriguez 1-5, HR (8)
Dariel Lopez 4-5, 2B, HR (6)
Jase Bowen 3-3, 2 HR (11), BB
Daniel Rivero 3-4, 2B
Game Recap:
Bradenton (45-31) blasted seven home runs and outlasted Dunedin, 13-10. The Marauders got several very big games. Jack Herman hit a pair of dingerz, his fourth and fifth for Bradenton, and drove in five runs. He scored three. Jase Bowen also hit a pair of homers, giving him 11 on the year. He also had a single and a walk, with three runs and three RBIs. Dariel Lopez had four hits, including a double and his sixth home run. Maikol Escotto added his seventh bomb and Endy Rodriguez his eighth. Daniel Rivero had three hits, including a double, and also uncorked a great throw to the plate, although the runner was called safe. The pitching was another story. Adrian Florencio was uncharacteristically wild in the first two innings, giving up three runs before settling down to get out of the second. He looked much better in the third and fourth, but by then he was up to 84 pitches. Carlos Campos followed with his full-season debut, probably because Drake Fellows just went on the seven-day IL. (Fellows was in the dugout, so hopefully it’s nothing serious, assuming it was more than a roster maneuver.) Campos couldn’t throw strikes and gave up three runs, two earned, over an inning and two-thirds. Ryan Troutman was next and he also couldn’t throw strikes, giving up another pair of runs. Bradenton finally went with Enmanuel Mejia, who hasn’t allowed an earned run all year. He got through the last two innings, although he gave up two unearned runs due to his own error.
FCL PIRATES BLACK
(10:00am)
Starting Pitcher: Jake Sweeney 2.2 IP, 3 H, 6 ER, 5 BB, 4 K
Notable Performances:
Juan Jerez 1-3
Dustin Fowler 1-3
Solomon Maguire 0-1
Christian Charle 2.1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
Game Recap:
The Gold team (15-6) scored five in the first and went on to beat the Black team (10-10), 8-1. Rodolfo Nolasco and Geovanny Planchart led the Gold offense. Nolasco reached base all four times up, with a double, a single and two walks, and scored three times. Planchart had two doubles, two walks and three RBIs. Sergio Campana and Deivis Nadal each drove in a pair. Valentin Linarez had a strong start for the Gold team, giving up just a run and fanning five in four innings. Alessandro Ercolani struck out four over two scoreless innings. For the Black team, Juan Jerez, rehabbing Dustin Fowler and Luis Tejada each went 1-3. Solomon Maguire played for the first time in over a month, but came out after three innings. He grounded out in his only AB. Jake Sweeney gave up six runs over two and two-thirds innings, largely due to five walks. Christian Charle gave up a run in two and a third.
FCL PIRATES GOLD
(10:00am)
Starting Pitcher: Valentin Linarez 4 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K
Notable Performances:
Tsung-Che Chung 0-2, BB, HBP
Sergio Campana 1-3
Rodolfo Nolasco 2-2, 2B, 2 BB
Geovanny Planchart 2-2, 2 2B, 2 BB
Alessandro Ercolani 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K
Game Recap:
See above.
DSL PIRATES BLACK
(10:30am)
Starting Pitcher: Darlin Diaz 2 IP, 3 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K
Notable Performances:
Enmanuel Terrero 1-4
Jesus Castillo 1-3, 3B, BB, SB
Shalin Polanco 2-4, 2B, HR (1)
Game Recap:
The Black team (8-7) beat the Gold team (4-11), 12-9. Some hitters finally got on track a bit, most notably the team’s top signee for the 2020-21 period, Shalin Polanco. He had a double and a home run for the Black team in four times up, driving in three runs. Teammate Ronny Sanchez also drove in three with a single and a double. Jesus Castillo had a triple, a walk, a steal, two runs and two RBIs. For the Gold team, Esmerlyn Valdez had a single, double and walk, and Jhonson Pena had two singles and a walk. Eudys Carrasco had a single and a double, and Gustavo Armas singled and drew three walks. The pitchers obviously had a tough day. The game featured 16 walks, 17 wild pitches (?!), three hit batsmen and two balks. The starters were 17-year-olds, Darlin Diaz for the Black team and Jose Garces for the Gold. They each allowed four earned runs in two innings. Nobody pitched very well, so it’s probably best just to keep the rest of the names out of it.
DSL PIRATES GOLD
(10:30am)
Starting Pitcher: Jose Garces 2 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 1 K
Notable Performances:
Gustavo Armas 1-1, 3 BB, HBP
Jeral Toledo 0-2, 2 BB, HBP
Esmerlyn Valdez 2-4, 2B, BB
Game Recap:
See above.
