All four of the Pittsburgh Pirates active minor league teams were in action Monday night. Two of the teams won, while two teams took tough losses.
Triple-A Indianapolis came into this game with a 2-2 record on the season. They played game one of the series against the Columbus Clippers, the Triple-A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians. Unfortunately for the Pittsburgh Pirates Triple-A affiliate, their offense was shut down for not only nine innings, but eleven. The Indians lost the game in extra innings 1-0. Obviously, Indianapolis received some quality work from their pitching staff.
Starting for the Indians was Josh Lindblom, who went five innings and struck out seven. Following Lindblom was Pat Light and Dovydas Neverauskas. Both of them through two innings of scoreless ball each. Starting the tenth inning was Dan Runzler, and he pitched a scoreless tenth. However, he gave up an unearned run in the 11th inning before being replaced by Brett McKinney. That was all that was needed for Columbus. The Indians offense was held to just four hits and one walk.
Double-A
Altoona also headed into their second series with a 2-2 record. They took on the Richmond Flying Squirrels of the San Francisco Giants organization. It was also a low-scoring game, but the Pittsburgh Pirates Double-A affiliate came out on top. The Curve won by a score of 2-1. Furthermore, the game also went into extra innings, lasting until the 12th, when the Curve scored the deciding run. Tanner Anderson started the game for the Curve. The Arizona Fall League participant went five innings and gave up one run. He was followed by Tate Scioneaux, Buddy Borden, and Montana DuRapau. These three pitchers closed out the final seven innings, obviously keeping Richmond off the board. The Curve had ten hits, including two from Edwin Espinal, Wyatt Mathisen, and Kevin Newman. Newman hit a double, scored a run, and also walked once. Newman in the early going is batting a nice .389.
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High-A
Unlike the other top to affiliates, the Bradenton Marauders had a pretty solid offensive day. Bradenton started a new series against the St. Lucie Mets, the High-A affiliate of the New York Mets. Bradenton would stay undefeated as they beat the Mets 6-4. Starting for the Marauders was Pittsburgh Pirates top 30 prospect Gage Hinsz. Hinsz was charged with all the runs that the Mets scored. He only made it through 3.2 innings, and on top that, he only struck out two.
Following Hinsz, Yunior Montero threw three scoreless innings. Also, Montero struck out six hitters in those three innings. After Montero was Daniel Zamora, who closed out the final two innings. Offensively, the Pittsburgh Pirates top prospects struggled. Cole Tucker and Ke’Bryan Hayes went a combined 0-9 with four strikeouts. Hayes did reach base once on a walk. Pittsburgh Pirates 2016 first round pick Will Craig went 1-3 with a walk. Rum Bunter top 30 prospect Kevin Krause was 1-3 with two RBIs and a triple. Also, Krause added in a walk. In addition, Casey Hughston was 2-3 and Logan Hill was 3-4.
Low-A
The West Virginia Power went winless in their first series. They would remain that way after their first game against the Asheville Tourists. Asheville is the Low-A affiliate for the Colorado Rockies. The Power were the third Pittsburgh Pirates minor league team to go into extra innings. The score was 1-1 until Asheville put up a four spot in the eleventh. Starting for the Power was 2016 6th round Pick Cam Vieaux. The southpaw went 4.1 innings and yielded one run on five hits. Geoff Hartlieb and Jordan Jess combined for 5.2 innings of scoreless baseball.
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However, The Power did not want to burn any more arms, so they let DH Logan Rutledge throw the final innings. Rutledge, normally an infielder, was tagged for four earned runs and the loss. As usual, the Power’s offense was pretty anemic only scratching out six hits in 12 innings of play. Third baseman Hunter Owen had three of the hits, including a double and a triple. Additionally, Stephen Alemais, the top position prospect for the Power, remains hitless.
Also, all stats courtesy of milb.com