Pittsburgh Pirates Minors: Waddell and Escobar Impress

Last night, the Pittsburgh Pirates saw two of their pitching prospects throw really strong games.  Here is how the Triple-A and Double-A teams fared with the strong starts.

The Pittsburgh Pirates lost again last night.  The team faced off against the Atlanta Braves and wasted another strong start by their starter.  One thing is that the team has seen a lot of strong starting pitching performances in the minor leagues of late.  This was the case again last night too.

Triple-A Indianapolis

Like the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Indianapolis Indians also wasted a really strong start last night.  The Indians sent 2015 fifth round pick Brandon Waddell to the hill against the Columbus Clippers of the Cleveland Indians’ organization.

The former Virginia Cavalier threw six complete innings in his start, striking out eight hitters while not allowing a single run.  He did, however, scatter seven hits but he only walked one batter.  When he left the game he had the lead with it being 1-0. Unfortunately, the team saw potential big league relievers AJ Schugel and Nick Burdi both give up a run each.  The Indians lost by a score of 2-1.

On the offensive side of things, the Pittsburgh Pirates Triple-A affiliate did not have a single player put up a multi-hit game. In terms of extra-base hits, Jacob Stallings, Max Moroff, and Pablo Reyes provided a double each.  Kevin Kramer knocked in his 53rd run with the only RBI for the Indians.

Double-A Altoona

The Altoona Curve did not waste their strong pitching performance.  The Pittsburgh Pirates Double-A affiliate faced off against the Washington Nationals’ affiliate, the Harrisburg Senators. The starter was Luis Escobar one of the Pittsburgh Pirates top pitching prospects.

The righty from Columbia pitched into the seventh, throwing 6.1 innings.  Across those innings, he struck out four and only walked one.  He gave up a total of six hits including a home run.  Still, he earned the win when the Altoona Curve won by a score of 3-2.  Escobar is now 4-0 in his short stint in Double-A.

The Curve posted three runs against the Senators.  The team had two players have multi-hit games.  Stephen Alemais,one of the Pittsburgh Pirates top middle infield prospects, had a two hit game.  He went 2-4 and is now batting .278 on the year.

The other player was right fielder Logan Hill.  The former 25th round pick went 3-3 with two runs batted in and two runs scored.  He had two extra base hits including a home run and a double. Bryan Reynolds, Christian Kelley, and Alfredo Reyes also chipped in a hit each.