Pittsburgh Pirates: Minor League Roundup April 17th

Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

The Pittsburgh Pirates minor league affiliates had a solid night yesterday.  They were 2-1 on the night.  The Indianapolis Indians did not have a game.

The Pittsburgh Pirates Double-A affiliate was in action last night, as the Curve took on the Erie SeaWolves.  The SeaWolves are the Double-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers.  The Curve dropped the game by a score of 7-1, and Altoona is now 7-4 on the season.  The Curve had Pittsburgh Pirates top 20 prospect Yeudy Garcia on the mound.  The power right handed pitcher only lasted four innings, being tagged for 5 runs, 3 of which were earned.  He allowed 7 hits including 2 home runs.  Furthermore, he only walked 1 hitter while only striking out three. Garcia’s ERA is now sitting at 9.64.

Following Garcia was reliever Miguel Rosario.  Rosario pitched 3 scoreless innings, striking out 2 while allowing 4 hits.  Rosario is a low-key relief prospect.  Although he is not well known, Rosario is currently owning a 2.25 ERA.  He also has a fastball that hits 95 consistently.  John Kuchno threw the other 3 innings and allowed 2 more runs.

On the offensive side of things, it was not much better for the Curve.  The Curve only scored 1 run on 7 hits on the night.  One bright spot is that Pittsburgh Pirates top shortstop prospect Kevin Newman had 2 of the hits.  The former first round pick was 2-3 in the game with a double and a base on balls. Edwin Espinal kept his hot start to the season going by collecting 2 more hits in 4 at-bats.  He also scored a run.  Kevin Kramer and Jordan Luplow both were 1-4, and Michael Suchy did not have a hit on the night, but he did gain an outfield assist.

High-A

The Bradenton Marauders took on the Clearwater Threshers last night.  The Threshers are the High-A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. The Pittsburgh Pirates High-A affiliate improved to 9-3 on the season, as they won 5-1.  Dario Agrazal got his first win of the year, pitching 6 innings of 1 run baseball. Agrazal gave up 5 hits and 1 walk, but he did strike out 5 hitters. Jess Amedee and Seth McGarry combined for the last three innings.  They did not give up any runs and struck out 3 hitters. The staff as a whole did not walk any batters on the night.

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Offensively the Marauders had 6 hits and scored 5 runs against Clearwater.  Pittsburgh Pirates 2016 first round pick Will Craig was the only player to have multiple hits, going 2-4, and he also had a RBI.  Cole Tucker was 0-2 on the night, but he did have 2 walks. Tucker also swiped his ninth base already on the year.  Ke’Bryan Hayes was 0-3, but he did make contact in all 3 instances. Casey Hughston, the Pittsburgh Pirates 3rd round pick in 2015, was 1-3 with a run scored.

Low-A

The West Virginia Power have put up back-to-back big offensive nights.  After chalking up 13 runs on Sunday, the Pittsburgh Pirates Low-A affiliate put up even more on Monday.  The Power defeated the Hickory Crawdads of the Texas Rangers 19-3.  West Virginia sent 2015 draftee ,and Duke product, James Marvel to the mound for the start.  Marvel was once again impressive.  The righ hander threw 5 innings and gave up 1 earned run.  Marvel struck out 3 hitters, walked 1, and gave up 4 hits.  He was relieved by Matt Eckelman, who was tagged for 2 earned run in 2 innings of work.  Jordan Jess threw the last 2 innings and kept the Crawdads off the board.

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Meanwhile, the Power’s offense combined for 22 hits in their 19 run outburst.  Out of the 9 hitters in the lineup, 7 of the batters had multi-hit games.  The team had four home runs, and all four of them were for multiple runs.  The team also had 5 doubles in the game, adding up to 9 extra base hits. Ty Moore led the team in hits, pounding out 4 hits in 6 at-bats.  He had 2 RBIs on all four hits, all being singles.  Moore is a former UCLA Bruin and was a 12th round pick in 2015.  He is now hitting .441 on the season.

Clark Eagan, the Pittsburgh Pirates 5th round pick in 2016, was 2-5 for the game.  He scored 2 runs, had 2 runs batted in, and walked once.  Leadoff hitter Logan Rutledge was 3-6 in the game, hitting one of the home runs and a double.  He also scored 3 runs and batted in 2 runners.  The Power are now 5-7 on the year.

*All stats are courtesy of Baseball Reference and milb.com