Pittsburgh Pirates: Minor League Roundup April 12th

The Pittsburgh Pirates minor league affiliates went 3-1 on Wednesday night.  Here is a recap of the games and the top performers.

Triple-A Indianapolis continued their series against the Columbus Clippers of the Cleveland Indians’ organization. The Pittsburgh Pirates Triple-A affiliate dropped the game by a score of 7-6.  The Indy team is now sitting at a record of 2-5 on the year.  Drew Hutchison got the start for the Indians, and he once again had a poor outing.  The former major league starter went five innings and gave up five runs on six hits, two walks, and two home runs.  However, the one positive note is that he did he strike out seven hitters. Former Pittsburgh Pirates big league reliever AJ Schugel also struggled giving up two runs in two innings.  His earned run average is now sitting at 12.46 for the year.  Cody Dickson followed Schugel with two scoreless innings.  The Indians did have a strong offensive performance collecting 11 hits on the night.  Austin Meadows finally put together a quality game, going 2-4 with a RBI and a run scored.  Elias Diaz was the top performer going 3-4 with a RBI and a run scored.

Double-A

The Altoona Curve are now 4-3 after defeating the Richmond Fly Squirrels of the San Fransisco Giants organization.  The Pittsburgh Pirates Double-A affiliate shut out Richmond by a score of 4-0.  Right hander Alex McRae had another quality start, going six innings and limiting Richmond to four hits.  The former tenth round pick had four strikeouts in the game.  John Kuchno followed McRae and threw three scoreless innings as well.  Former second round pick Wyatt Mathisen was 2-3 in the game with two doubles.  Michael Suchy went 2-5, and Kevin Kramer finished 1-4 with a walk and a RBI.  Kevin Newman, Connor Joe, and Jordan Luplow were a combined 0-12.

More from Rum Bunter

• Pittsburgh Pirates Prospect Stockwatch: Outfielder Tres Gonzalez
• Pittsburgh Pirates Podcast: Rum Bunter Radio Talks Winter Meetings Fallout
• Pittsburgh Pirates: Potential Leadoff Hitters in 2023
• Pittsburgh Pirates: The Rotation is not being Improved
• Pittsburgh Pirates Make Vince Velasquez Signing Official

High-A

The Bradenton Marauders improved to 7-0 last night.  The Pittsburgh Pirates HIgh-A affiliate defeated the St. Lucie Mets by a score of 4-1.  Pedro Vasquez got the start for the Marauders and he yielded one run over 4.2 innings.  Although he did give up six hits, he did not walk any batters and struck out four.  Vasquez was one of the pitchers acquired for Caminero last season.  Jesse Amedee and Seth McGarry finished off the game combining for 4.1 scoreless innings. Rum Bunter top 30 prospect Kevin Krause continued his hot start going 3-4 with a double and a triple.   Other than Krause, Logan Hill has been the team’s best hitter.  The left fielder was 3-4 with a triple and is now batting .433 on the year. Also, Will Craig and Cole Tucker each added a hit.  Furthermore, Tucker swiped a base for his fifth stolen base of the season.

Next: Glasnow Needs Some AJ Burnett

Low-A

The West Virginia Power finally picked up their first victory of the season.  They beat the Asheville Tourists of the Colorado Rockies 8-4.  Former Duke starter, and 35th round pick, James Marvel started the game going four innings and giving up 3 runs, 2 of which were earned.  Following Marvel was Matt Eckelman, who threw three innings and gave up the other run on the night.  Hector Garcia and Eduardo Vera finished the game by posting zeros over the last two innings.  The Power have struggled to produce offense in the early going, but they cranked out 13 hits last night.  They had four hitters collect multi-hit games, including 2016 draft pick Clark Eagan who was 2-4. In addition to Eagan, Ty Moore was 2-5, Trae Arbet was 2-3 with three runs scored, and Carlos Munoz went 2-4.